Chiefs turn attention to home-field advantage

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Chiefs awoke to a cold, rainy Monday morning that perfectly captured the mood of their town.

"You wake up and there's a big, giant thunderstorm outside. We had to drive in through a rainstorm," said defensive end Eric Hicks. "It was kind of depressing."

For nine straight weeks the Chiefs enjoyed what they call "Victory Monday," when coaches reward winning by not requiring anyone to come in and view film. But on this dark and cloudy Monday, for the first time all year, everybody had to show up. No one was excused.

Making good on wide receiver Chad Johnson's boast, the long-woeful Cincinnati Bengals, of all teams, had beaten them 24-19.

Goodbye, perfect record. Goodbye to being the talk of the league.

To be sure, all is not lost. At 9-1, in fact, the Chiefs still have a one-game lead over Tennessee, Indianapolis and New England in the race for AFC home-field advantage. The AFC West is all but decided because they have a three-game lead on Denver with six to play.

And they have Oakland coming in this week, an old archrival that always stirs passion.

But nobody was kidding himself: This was a tough loss. Getting over this one is going to take an extra day or two.

"It's one thing to lose a game. It's another to get called out," said Pro Bowl left tackle Willie Roaf, describing the mood of the team as "angry."

"We played at their field and the conditions were not what we would have liked. But they called us out and then they beat us," Roaf said. "We've got to get refocused and get ready for Oakland."

Week after week as the Chiefs remained the league's only unbeaten team, talk of a perfect season picked up steam. But then they went into Cincinnati, a team that has had at least a six-game losing streak in each of the past six seasons, and got pasted in every phase.

The offense wasted terrific field position and converted only one of 11 third downs. Priest Holmes was held to a season-low 62 yards rushing. The defense gave up 200 yards on the ground, including 165 to Rudi Johnson.

And instead of Dante Hall returning a punt for a touchdown, it was Cincinnati's Peter Warrick who turned the trick.

"They were very cocky. They played with a swagger," said Roaf. "The good thing is we still have the best record in the league. But it was a humbling experience."

Nobody was buying any talk about the loss being good because it relieves the Chiefs of the pressure of trying to be as perfect as the '72 Dolphins.

"People said we need that feeling, but I don't think so," said defensive end Vonnie Holliday. "We all know how it feels to lose.

"But maybe it will give us a chance to refocus."

Cornerback Eric Warfield was coming in for much of the blame. Warfield was beaten on Warrick's 77-yard touchdown pass play just after the Chiefs scored in the fourth quarter.

"It brings us back down to reality," Warfield said. "Everybody jumped on the bandwagon. You heard Chiefs all across the United States, being undefeated and all. This reminds us we can get beat by anybody if we don't play well."

In their drive for home-field advantage, the Chiefs have two road games left against teams with winning records: Denver, which rebounded on Sunday with the return of quarterback Jake Plummer, and Minnesota, which has lost four in a row after starting 6-0.

"We look forward to the challenge. We're still leading the conference, leading the division," Hicks said. "The Earth still goes around the sun. The world's still spinning. Everything is going to be all right.

"We just don't want to have too many more of these Mondays."