PITTSBURGH -- One of the key plays of the Kansas City Chiefs' 20-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was a failed fourth-and-1 running play late in the first half. The Chiefs trailed 10-6 and faced the short-yardage situation at the Pittsburgh 12 with 27 seconds remaining.
Attempting a field goal that would have cut the deficit to one point would have made more sense, particularly considering the Chiefs were to receive the second-half kickoff. But the Chiefs sent Jamaal Charles into the line and the Steelers stuffed him for no gain, ending Kansas City's scoring opportunity.
Those three points would have allowed the Chiefs to be playing for a tie late in the game when they drove deep into Pittsburgh territory. Instead they trailed 20-9 before Cairo Santos tacked on a final field goal.
"Hindsight, you say we probably should have kicked it," coach Andy Reid said. "[But] we wanted to take advantage of the red zone. We had a pretty good idea what they were doing at that point. We've been down there and saw how they were operating so I figured we could get inches. It wasn't even a yard. It was about the length of the ball, if that. We were feeling good about it but we didn't get it.
"You want as many points as you can get. You do. You want to stay aggressive. That's what we do. When you've got that type of distance there you go get it. There's a certain mindset here that we've been working with the whole season, training camp included. When you're put in that situation, you strap it on and go get the thing."
