Arrowheadlines: Kansas City Chiefs News 12/23

Chiefs Coach Andy Reid Talks Playoff Chances from The Mothership

Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid has been here before.

It was the final week of the 2008 season and the Philadelphia Eagles needed the Oakland Raiders, who were 13-point underdogs at the time, to beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and they also needed the Houston Texans to beat the Chicago Bears, in order to make the playoffs.

It was improbable and unlikely, similar to the situation the Chiefs find themselves in right now.

But both of those things happened that Sunday afternoon, which meant the Eagles just had to take care of business in their late afternoon game against the Dallas Cowboys.

Andy Reid Press Conference 12/22 from The Mothership

Q: What did you think about Alex Smith's performance in Pittsburgh?

REID: "I thought Alex did some good things, he had a lot of quality plays I thought. But he would be the first one to sit up here and tell you that we've all got to do better and it's not about one guy it's about everybody. I would tell you, he played a pretty good football game."

Q: How much of getting the six and not the three in the red zone rests on his shoulders as the quarterback?

REID: "We all had a piece of that. We've all got a responsibility to get it down there, and I've got a responsibility to make sure I am dialing the right things up for him though. The pass game, he's got people there and if he does then he's got to make the throw and people have to catch the ball, that's how it works. We've all got a little piece of it."

Chiefs vs. Steelers: Game Takeaways from The Mothership

"They got us today," Chiefs coach Andy Reid explained of the offense's struggles inside the red zone. "Initially they showed us a little different look. I thought we came back and adjusted decently for it. But they got us, played better than we did and made plays."

Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said it was a few mistakes that really hurt them inside the red zone.

"I think we got ourselves in some bad situations," Smith said after the game. "A couple of times on those drives things were flowing and then we would get into the red zone and have a negative play or sack and then you're fighting uphill after that."

Of the six times Smith was sacked on Sunday, three of them came inside the Steelers 15-yard line.

Chiefs Defense Rose to Challenge on Sunday from The Mothership

The Pittsburgh Steelers came into Sunday's matchup against the Chiefs as the NFL's most prolific offense, averaging a league-best 425 yards per game.

But on Sunday, the Chiefs defense rose to the challenge, holding the Steelers to just 282 total yards.

It was Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who came into the game ranked as the No. 2 quarterback in the NFL by averaging more than 315 yards passing per game, that the Chiefs defense planned for all week.

The Chiefs defense rose to the challenge, and still has yet to allow a 300-yard passer this season.

Chiefs Rookie WR Albert Wilson Making an Impact from The Mothership

Wilson, who played collegiately at Georgia State (2010-13), holds numerous school records for the Panthers, including most receiving yards in a career (3,190), season (1,177) and game (175), career touchdowns (26), all-purpose yards (6,235), punt return yards (251) and kick return yards (2,338), among others.

Chiefs general manager John Dorsey and the player personnel staff made a concerted effort to bring in Wilson, who went undrafted, to Kansas City last spring.

Chiefs Donate Toys for the Holidays from The Mothership

With Christmas quickly approaching, the Chiefs Women's Organization and Operation Breakthrough are striving to fulfil Kansas City children's wish lists. For five years, the CWO has participated in the Adopt-A-Family program with Operation Breakthrough, a non-profit organization serving children and their families in the Kansas City metro.

This year, 54 families were adopted and gifts were purchased for 170 children. Over the last five years of this partnership, 293 families have been adopted and 783 children have received gifts for the holidays.

Remembering Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs 1993 season from The Mothership

History sometimes has a funny way of repeating itself. In Kansas City, that couldn't be more true.

The story of the Kansas City Chiefs trading for a veteran San Francisco 49ers quarterback who leads them to the playoffs in his first year in Kansas City has happened before, not just with current starter Alex Smith.

It was 20 years ago that the Chiefs made the trade to bring over Joe Montana, and this six-part Chiefs Kingdom series below chronicles that season, which had its highs and lows and culminated with a couple of games that showed why the Chiefs brought over the Hall of Famer.

KCChiefs.com Podcast: Chiefs Download 12/23

KCChiefs.com Video: Arrowhead Update 12/22: Recapping Week 16

Chiefs' Andy Reid keeps postseason expectations real from Chiefs Digest

Playoff optimism survives for the Chiefs despite Sunday's loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

But the hunt for the postseason comes with a reality check.

"You're sitting here at the end of a long season with an opportunity," coach Andy Reid told reporters Monday. "We need help now. Not only do we need to take care of business this weekend, but we need some other people to do the same thing for us to get in."

Chiefs need plenty of help to return to playoffs from The Associated Press via FS Kansas City

Lost in this whole mess is that the Chiefs (8-7) have won just once in their past five games, a precipitous decline that closely mirrors last season. Kansas City began 9-0 in Andy Reid's first season but won just two of its final seven games, limping into the postseason.

Ever since the Chiefs collapsed in the second half of a 45-44 loss to Indianapolis in the first round, they've repeated the mantra of "finish."

In the largest sense, they've been referring to the entire season, but in a smaller sense, they mean games, drives and even individual plays.

They failed to finish anything on Sunday.

Chiefs' Reid remembers a late-season miracle in Philly to make the playoffs from FS Kansas City

First, they will need Cleveland to upset Baltimore in Baltimore. That one isn't impossible, given that Johnny Manziel's hamstring injury could keep him out of Cleveland's lineup -- the Browns are better without him. And Baltimore is coming off a woeful road loss at Houston.

But the upset that is a bit hard to wrap your arms around is lowly Jacksonville upsetting Houston in Houston.

But you won't sell any negativity around Reid.

Dwayne Bowe has sprained shoulder from ESPN

The Chiefs aren't deep at wide receiver, so the loss of Bowe would leave the Chiefs with a collection of players that includes rookies Albert Wilson and De'Anthony Thomas, Jason Avant, Junior Hemingway, Frankie Hammond Jr. and Donnie Avery, who was a healthy scratch Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Reid was optimistic that Bowe would be available against the Chargers. Bowe missed all of the last practice week because of flu symptoms, but he played anyway on Sunday in Pittsburgh and caught six passes for 57 yards.

So even if Bowe can't practice this week, he should play against the Chargers if he's physically able.

Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe dealing with shoulder injury from Chiefs Digest

Reid said rookie right guard Zach Fulton is dealing with a foot strain. Fulton played 56 offensive snaps before giving way late in the game to Mike McGlynn, who logged the remaining 10 snaps.

"He's limping around a little bit," Reid said of Fulton.

Meanwhile, rookie cornerback Phillip Gaines continues to battle the flu-like symptoms that held him out of Sunday's game.

"He still doesn't feel very good," Reid said. "We'll just see how he does."

Keeler: Justin Houston, not Jamaal Charles, is Chiefs' MVP of 2014 from FS Kansas City

If chaos was art, Justin Houston would be its Monet.

Mad Number 50 has racked up at least one sack in 12 of the Kansas City Chiefs' 15 games this season. At one point, he had a streak running of six straight contests with at least one takedown. When that ended, a few weeks later he started up another merciless streak, one running through five straight tilts so far.

"There (are) only so many guys you can try and double-team ... but at the same time, he's an elite pass rusher in this league," Arizona quarterback Drew Stanton said of Houston earlier this month. "We're conscious and aware of where he is on every single snap."

Take away Jamaal Charles, you hold your breath. Take away Justin Houston, you hold your nose.

3 in the Kee: For a flawed, depleted Chiefs roster, 9-7 or 8-8 feels about right from FS Kansas City

Admit it: If they'd have told you after Titans 26, Andy Gang 10, that you'd still be playing for a shot -- albeit a very, very, very, very, very, very long one -- at a postseason berth in Week 17, Kansas City Chiefs fans, you'd have bitten on that one. Hard.

Or if somebody told you (to coin a documentary promo) the Chiefs (8-7) would basically be without Derrick Johnson, Mike DeVito and Eric Berry for most of 2014 and yet still could finish with a winning record, you'd probably have snatched that one up, too.

We'll probably delve into this more next week -- or whenever the journey reaches its final destination. But whether you look at the home finale with the San Diego Chargers (9-6) as an opportunity or a letdown depends on how you saw this team's real colors...

CHIEFS MUST JETTISON BUDDY SYSTEM from Warpaint Illustrated

In the two years since Kansas City Chiefs Chairman, Clark Hunt, overhauled his NFL franchise, some good things have taken place. However in hiring Head Coach, Andy Reid and allowing him to use the buddy system to put together a less than stellar coaching staff, this franchise is at a point of no return without real change.

Connell: Chiefs, Alex Smith could use a little bit of Jay Cutler. Not actually Jay Cutler, but his mindset from The Springfield News-Leader

It's not an embarrassment to lose to the Steelers, especially at Pittsburgh. But it's another step in NFL's no-man's-land: not good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to get a high draft pick.

The signs are clear and bold that there need to be some major changes needed for the Chiefs to make a move to prominence in the AFC - and even just in the AFC West. There needs to be a major retooling of the offensive approach, philosophy or personnel - and probably some of all three.

It starts with QB Alex Smith, who is shaping up to be the latest in a long line of maddeningly-frustrating Kansas City signal-callers.

Coach: Philip Rivers will play Sunday from ESPN

Although he is dealing with a bulging disk in his back, the expectation remains that San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers will play in his team's final regular-season game, on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs.

That's what Chargers coach Mike McCoy told reporters Monday.

"Everyone has had some form of injury that they deal with at some point of time during the year," McCoy said. "Philip will play on Sunday."

Negotiations continue on Chiefs training camp from The St. Joseph News-Press

A second deadline is quickly approaching on negotiations to determine whether the Kansas City Chiefs training camp stays in St. Joseph.

After failing to come to an agreement with Missouri Western State University by the Dec. 1 deadline, the two sides agreed to move the deadline to Jan. 1.