Sam Mellinger: Jamaal Charles takes blame, but Chiefs’ loss is still hard to comprehend

The locker was nearly empty. Thirty minutes had passed, maybe more. Guys had showered, changed out of their uniforms and into their jeans. They had shaken their heads and walked slowly out the doors and into the world. How do you comfort the man who thinks it’s all his fault?

They say they will come back strong. That they are professionals, that it’s a long season, that all their goals are still in front of them, and it almost sounds convincing. Almost.

The Chiefs lost a stunner to the Broncos, in a standalone, national broadcast in front of a rocking Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday. The final score of 31-24 doesn’t begin to describe it.

Jamaal Charles, one of the most liked, respected, and accomplished men the Chiefs employ, fumbled the last play that mattered. One moment he is taking a routine handoff to the left side. The next moment, the ball is out and the Broncos have it in the end zone. They have won the game. The field is now their dance floor.

Charles had the ball in the wrong arm, but should’ve had both arms on it for protection, or maybe this is the coach’s fault for calling this play. Either way, Charles is here, standing in front of a swarm of cameras and notebooks and blaming himself for one of the most brutal and dumbfounding losses in a franchise history full of them.

“I caused the loss today,” he is saying. “I tried to put the team on my back, and I ended up losing the game. That was all on me tonight.”

How do you comfort that man? This isn’t the way it’s supposed to go. Charles is a star, and not just a star, but a loved star. He has elite track speed, but has made himself one of the NFL’s best running backs through vision and balance and toughness. He is shy by nature, and relentless. Teammates look up to him. Coaches adore him.

It’s easier when you can blame Lin Elliott, or Elvis Grbac.

Charles is different. This is his eighth year. He started as the third-string running back. Behind Larry Johnson and Kolby Smith. He played special teams, and even in his second year was left off the active roster once. The Chiefs tried to trade him once, for a mid-round pick, but the other team wouldn’t bite.

Nothing’s ever been easy. Charles has played for four different coaches, and taken handoffs from 11 different quarterbacks. He ripped his knee falling into the mascot on the sideline in Detroit, and the next year ran for 1,509 yards for a 2-14 team.

He deserves better than this, than standing here feeling like he let down his friends and teammates.

He’s being hard on himself. He did not cause this loss. This is not all on him. The Chiefs had five turnovers. Eleven penalties. They had the ball inside the 20-yard line three times without scoring. Charles fumbled one of those, too, but there was a lack of execution and a seemingly passive bit of play-calling that fans are already cursing.

Marcus Peters made a terrific play on a wobbling pass by Peyton Manning, returning the interception for a touchdown, but the Chiefs had at least two more chances for picks that fell to the turf.

“Obviously, you can’t believe it,” quarterback Alex Smith says. “Just a shock.”

It’s hard to think straight at the moment. The players are still stunned, falling back on cliches that will get the reporters away soon enough. This was going to be their chance, too, before the Broncos stomped on their hearts.

The Chiefs could have won this game a dozen different ways. Should have won at least five different ways, and if they had, man, that might’ve changed the whole season.

The Broncos have bullied the Chiefs many times in many ways for many years. You can take this back a generation, if you want, back to when John Elway was throwing passes from the pocket instead of making decisions in the front office.

The Broncos’ dominance has not been subtle. They have won seven straight games against the Chiefs, and four consecutive AFC West titles a run that covers the fall of Scott Pioli and the reboot under Andy Reid and John Dorsey. The last time the Chiefs beat the Broncos, Tim Tebow was Denver’s quarterback. The score was 7-3.

That was 1,356 days ago. Which just adds to the pain.

The Broncos have acted like bullies, too. You probably remember linebacker Von Miller’s late hit a spear, really on Alex Smith last year. On Thursday, it went next-level. The Broncos were flagged for four personal foul penalties in the first 25 minutes.

Two came on the same drive, and, if you count the five-yard Chiefs penalty one of the late hits wiped out, accounted for more yards than Charles’ beautiful 34-yard, cut-back touchdown run.

It’s hard to think the bullying wasn’t deliberate. Hard to believe it was not part of the plan, if not specifically then in broader terms. The Chiefs like to play tough. They have big hopes this season. The Broncos packed brass knuckles.

The Chiefs kept their composure and, man, they stood up. They stayed tough. Smith completed 64 percent of his passes, to seven different receivers. Charles ran for 125 yards. Peters played terrifically. Justin Houston had two more sacks. Jaye Howard dominated the interior of the Broncos’ offensive line.

They did more than enough to win. They beat the Broncos in many ways, but they beat themselves in more. They led by 14 in the first half, and by seven with 2:32 left. They had the ball, score tied in the last minute, the worst imaginable scenario overtime.

Then, well, then came the moment that Charles is kicking himself about. That fumble. His second of the game. How did that happen?

“Football is a great sport to watch, because crazy things can happen,” says right tackle Jah Reid.

He’s right, of course, but the crazy things always seem to happen to the Chiefs. They seem to find themselves as extras in someone else’s highlight. What separates this from the Lin Elliott Game or 38-10 in Indianapolis is the stakes, that this happened in week two and those others happened in the playoffs.

But that’s little solace at the moment, it can’t be, and so after Charles has put the loss on himself for at least the second time, someone from the Chiefs’ public relations department breaks up the interview.

Charles starts to walk slowly to the buckets of Gatorade against a wall of the locker room. How do you comfort that man?

Houston sees Charles, and walks over. He whispers something, nods his head, and the two men slap hands. The Chiefs have been leaning on Houston to take on more leadership. He’s earned it. Guys like Charles have done it long enough. This is the cycle.

“We all (messed) up,” Houston says to his friend. “I (messed) up, too. This ain’t a one-man show. This ain’t LeBron’s house.”

There aren’t many people left in the locker room by now, but Houston says this loud enough that they can hear. He sort of grunts to emphasize the point, and smiles at the simplicity. Charles (messed) up. They all (messed) up. How do you comfort that man? You do the only thing you can.

You walk out the door, head up high, determined to make the next time different. They have 14 games left. More, if they’re good enough.

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