Chiefs Trying To Move On After Painful Loss To Cardinals

The Kansas City Chiefs’ playoff hopes to a huge hit after a discouraging 17-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.

This was a hard one to swallow for the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs fell to the Arizona Cardinals 17-14 on Sunday and fell to 7-6 on the season. It is the teams’ third loss in a row and now trail behind San Diego, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Miami in the Wildcard standings. The loss puts the Chiefs in a huge hole and puts them in danger of missing the playoffs.

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It wasn’t just that the Chiefs lost the game and their playoff hopes took a hit, but it was the way they lost the game that was probably the most painful.

The Chiefs seemed to get on the referees’ bad side in this one. First, an Alex Smith touchdown pass to Anthony Fasano was wiped out after Fasano was called for offensive pass interference when the Chiefs were leading 14-9 late in the third quarter. Fasano was clearly not pleased with the call, as it seems that Cardinals’ linebacker Larry Foote embellished the small amount of contact that Fasano put on him.

It was a 15-yard penalty that saw the Chiefs face a third-and-long after the call. Alex Smith was under pressure and forced a throw that was intercepted by linebacker Alex Okafor. That interception turned into a 26-yard touchdown pass by Drew Stanton to Jaron Brown.

The next questionable call came when the Chiefs were trailing 17-14 with less than six minutes to play in the game. Travic Kelce received a pass from Alex Smith for 19 yards and got to the Arizona 22. Cardinal safety Deone Bucannon poked the ball free and was apparently recovered by teammate Justin Bethal. The ruling on the field was down by contact, but Cardinals coach Bruce Arians through the challenge flag wanting a second look. The call on the field was overturned by the referees and ruled a fumble.

After the loss, the Chiefs players and coaches felt that those two crucial plays made the difference. They’re not wrong. They were controversial calls at best. The Fasano call I believe the refs fell victim to the embellishment, and the Kelce fumble was the wrong call. Yes he bobbled the ball after the catch, but he never lost possession as he went down to the ground. I feel there was not enough conclusive evidence to overturn the ruling on the field.

The Chiefs will have to get over this one fast, but this was a tough one to swallow.

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