Are Chiefs really ‘playing to win’?

Before becoming head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, Herm Edwards was the head coach of the New York Jets, a job in which he became famous for his “You play to win the game” speech at a press conference.

(And for those wondering, that has been viewed 437,930 times as of Monday on YouTube.)

He put that philosophy to the test last week when the Chiefs went for 2 points to win the game against San Diego but came up short and lost by a point.

The 1-8 Chiefs, at home Sunday, appeared to perhaps change that philosophy at times when it comes to winning the game.

There were three main situations that doomed the Chiefs in Sunday’s 30-20 loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Trailing 10-7 in the second quarter, the Chiefs got to the New Orleans’ 1-yard line and came away with only 3 points.

Larry Johnson got the carry on 1st-and-goal from the 1 and leaped over the line and appeared to have crossed the goal line. He was marked down at the 1-inch line though. Edwards challenged the play, but the replays were inconclusive, as the location of the ball in Johnson’s hand in correlation with the goal line was not seen.

“We didn’t get any push at all,” Edwards said. “They pushed us back and we didn’t get any yards. I thought the one was in, but I guess the way it looked on camera they couldn’t see it. They couldn’t get the sideline angle on that side of the field.”

A 1-yard run by Johnson and an incomplete pass followed and the Chiefs sent out Connor Barth to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:39 to go in the half. New Orleans went up 13-10 at halftime on a field goal with 2 seconds left in the second quarter.

Similar situation occurred in the third quarter when the Chiefs were trailing, got near the goal line, and had to settle for a field goal.

Trailing 20-10 at this point, Johnson took a direct snap and ran to the New Orleans 3-yard line to set up a 1st-and-goal situation. Three plays resulted in nothing yardage-wise.

A run for no gain and two incomplete passes intended for Dwayne Bowe followed, and the Chiefs settled for a 21-yard field goal by Barth, which cut the deficit down to a touchdown.

“I think what killed us was when we got in the red zone, we didn’t score. We got down there twice and had to settle for field goals. When you play a team like this, you know they’ve got a pretty good offense and very accurate quarterback, and they can move the ball (and they did); you’ve got to score.”

“That kills you,” said Kansas City rookie tight end Brad Cottam, “You get three or four chances to get it in. That stuff is a little bit demoralizing. We still moved the ball, but we struggled with (scoring).”

As much as those two short-yardage situations didn’t yield the results the fans wanted, the one possession that got the most attention came in the fourth quarter.

Trailing 27-20 at this point, Kansas City took over at its 27-yard line.

Jamal Charles rushed 12 yards for a first down. Then Johnson caught a pass from Tyler Thigpen for a 20-yard gain.

Now at the New Orleans 40-yard line, the Chiefs hit the wall, as if they were in the red zone. A run for no gain and two incomplete passes followed.

Dustin Colquitt was sent out to punt, and the boos rained down from the Chiefs fans, who wanted the team to go for it, down by a touchdown against a good team.

In many of the post-game radio shows, the fans openly questioned why Edwards would go for the win against San Diego and not go for the tie, if nothing else, against the Saints after moving the ball well on that drive.

“At that point it’s a one-score game and you still feel like if you can hold them … we had stopped them the series before,” Edwards explained in his post-game press conference. “If you can hold them and make them punt, it’s a one-score game. If you miss it, you just give them a short field again, and they’re pretty good on a short field. You go for some of them, but you’ve got to know what the situation in the game is and, at that point, with 10 minutes and all your timeouts, you just figure to hold them here and make them punt. If you miss it and they get the ball on the 40 all of a sudden it gives them momentum.”

However, the Chiefs didn’t hold the Saints, and New Orleans marched down the field for its fifth straight scoring drive, ending in a field goal, to put the game out of reach and move to 5-5 on the year.

The Chiefs, on the flip side, headed to the locker room losers of 18 of their past 19 games.

But remember, “You play to win the game.”

Cody Thorn is the Neosho Daily News sports editor.