The fact that the Kansas City Chiefs loss to the Cleveland Browns was blacked out on local television is just further proof in a lot of people’s minds that there must be some sort of deity looking out for us at this time of the year.
The Chiefs may have played their worst game of the year in losing to the Browns 41-34 on the Sunday afternoon before Christmas. And, in doing so, they almost assured themselves of being the worst team record-wise in the AFC for the 2009 season. However, with the game not on local televisions, the only fans subjected to this inhumane torment were the luckless souls that ventured out to the stadium.
Little did they know when they settled into their seats early on Sunday afternoon that they were about to witness history.
Unfortunately, it was two Browns players making history.
Wide receiver Joshua Cribbs returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter, giving him the all-time NFL record for a career. It was the seventh touchdown in his short five-year career. He actually shared the record with former Chief Dante Hall, so maybe there was a little karma working for Cribbs in the stadium where Hall became a legendary part of Chiefs history.
After that, the Chiefs offense woke up and played as well as they’ve played all year long. Quarterback Matt Cassel shook off four dropped passes by his receiving corps and led the Chiefs on two scoring drives that turned a 13-3 deficit into a 17-13 Chiefs lead. The highlight of the day was RB Jamaal Charles’ 47-yard touchdown run that put the Chiefs ahead.
On the next possession, the Chiefs defense forced the Browns to punt and when the snap from the center shot past the Cleveland punter into the end zone, fan favorite LB Andy Studebaker, recovered the ball for a special teams touchdown. That put the Chiefs up 24-13. At that moment, you could feel that the game was about to become a blowout for the Chiefs.
And then the Chiefs kicked the ball off to ... you guessed it ... the NFL’s all-time leader in kickoff touchdowns, Josh Cribbs. Cribbs fielded the ball three yards deep in the end zone and ran literally untouched all the way back for his second touchdown of the day and the eighth kickoff touchdown of his career. The Browns had new life, and the Chiefs were about to witness an even more dubious piece of history.
In the second half, little-known Browns running back, Jerome Harrison, broke off a 71-yard touchdown run that was just the beginning of a memorable 30 minutes for him. By the time the game ended, Harrison gained 286 yards rushing. That is the third-most rushing yards gained in a single game in NFL history. It was only nine yards off of the record held by Minnesota’s Adrian Peterson.
Harrison also broke the Cleveland Browns single-game team record held by some guy named Jim Brown. If you didn’t know, Brown, a running back from 1957 to 1965, is widely regarded as the greatest football player who ever lived and is held in awe by most football fans. Thanks to the Chiefs defense, or lack of it, the greatest player ever no longer holds this particular record for his team.
The performances of Cribbs and Harrison completely overshadowed the performances of Matt Cassel and Jamaal Charles, who had their best games of the season. Charles gained 154 yards rushing with a touchdown and added another 16 yards receiving. Once again, he was the best offensive player on the field for the Chiefs.
Cassel, after suffering through three bad games over the past month, completed 22 of 40 passes for 331 yards and two touchdowns. His receivers dropped at least eight passes, two of them in the end zone, so it’s not a stretch to say that Cassel could have had 400 yards receiving and three or four touchdowns. But it wasn’t enough to offset the Browns record-setting day.
The Chiefs record now stands at 3-11 with two road games left to play against playoff teams. It’s highly doubtful that they’ll even be competitive in these games, much less victorious.
Even worse for Chiefs fans, both games will be on television in Kansas City so you’ll be tempted to tune in and witness the dying gasps of the Chiefs forgettable 2009 season.
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