Lowery Gives Chiefs a Lift as Bengals Get Kick in Teeth, 31-28

You couldn’t blame Frank Gansz for getting a little carried away.

His Kansas City Chiefs had only one victory and the worst record in the National Football League until Nick Lowery’s fifth field goal of the game, a 31-yarder with 2 seconds left Sunday beat the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-28.

“We played probably one of the best football teams . . . in the history of the game,” Gansz said after Kansas City rallied with a safety, a touchdown and a field goal in the final 6 minutes.

“I’m not exaggerating,” added Gansz, whose job reportedly is in jeopardy.

Cincinnati (8-3) had a 28-19 lead when when Kansas City’s Albert Lewis blocked a punt through the end zone for a safety with 6:06 left.

Following a pass interference penalty on David Fulcher at the goal line, Christian Okoye’s touchdown brought the Chiefs (2-8-1) into a 28-28 tie with 1:11 left.

The Bengals’ Marc Logan fumbled the kickoff and Lewis recovered on the 28, setting up Lowery’s game-winner.

“We feel sick in there,” Cincinnati Coach Sam Wyche said, waving toward the Bengals’ locker room. “That was a game we wanted to win and should have won. You can’t let the officials get in a close game at the end. The close calls gave Kansas City a chance to win and they executed well.”

Lewis said the ball, knocked loose from Logan by James Saxon, “looked like a Christmas present lying there.

“I could almost see the red ribbons and the gift wrapping,” Lewis said.

The Chiefs pulled to within 21-16 in the third period, only to have the Bengals retaliate with Stanford Jennings’ team-record 98-yard kickoff return, breaking the mark of 97 yards by Willie Shelby against Cleveland in 1976.

Lowery, meanwhile, kept the Chiefs in the game. His 37-yard field goal in the first period gave Kansas City a 3-0 lead, which Cincinnati’s Ickey Woods wiped out with a 4-yard touchdown run with 6:25 left in the first quarter.

Lowery added field goals of 35 and 23 yards in the first half and his 47-yarder in the fourth period made it 28-19.

Cincinnati went ahead, 14-9, on Stanley Wilson’s 5-yard run with 14 seconds left in the first half, and stayed ahead until the finish. Quarterback Boomer Esiason made it 21-9 in the third period with a twisting, tackle-slipping run from 5 yards out when his pass protection broke down.

The Chiefs also scored on Steve DeBerg’s 17-yard pass to Stephone Paige to make it 21-16, 3 plays after a 48-yard run by Okoye.

DeBerg completed 22 of 37 passes for 285 yards, while Okoye gained 102 yards in 16 carries.