Chargers Rally for Upset Win Over K.C.
For the last month the Kansas City defense, ranked second in the NFL, had been shutting down opposing running backs as the improved Chiefs won four straight.
But Sunday afternoon at frigid Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs failed to contain Marion Butts, a rookie running back who had only 133 yards in 33 carries during his entire senior season at Florida State.
Butts, 6-foot-1, 248 pounds, rumbled for 176 yards in a team-record 39 carries as the Chargers rallied from a 13-point deficit to upset Kansas City, 20-13.
The defeat dropped the Chiefs to 7-7-1 and left a torpedo hole the size of Missouri in the broad side of their wild-card playoff hopes.
The Chargers raised their record to 5-10, but there was nothing nickel and dime about it. In beating the Chiefs for the fifth straight time they ended a four-game losing streak and shut out Kansas City in the second half for the second time this year.
In the first half their defense sent Kansas City quarterback Steve DeBerg to the sidelines when free safety Vencie Glenn blasted him on a safety blitz.
“That’s my Christmas present to him,” Glenn said after the game.
DeBerg (14 of 33 for 142 yards) returned, but only after receiving 14 stitches in his chin.
The Charger defense also limited Chief running back Christian Okoye, who entered the game as the NFL’s leading rusher, to 60 yards in 18 carries.
In the last six weeks the Chargers have kept Raider Bo Jackson, Colt Eric Dickerson and now Okoye from crossing the goal line.
Things began well enough for the Chiefs when field goals of 36 and 30 yards by Nick Lowery and an 11-yard touchdown pass from DeBerg to halfback Todd McNair gave them a 13-0 lead.
But the Chargers hurried back upfield and scored on a one-yard pass from rookie quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver (13 of 30 for 171 yards) to Andy Parker seven seconds before halftime.
A five-yard touchdown pass from Tolliver to wide receiver Anthony Miller sandwiched between Chris Bahr field goals of 43 and 20 yards accounted for all points scored in the second half.
Miller’s touchdown was his 10th of the year. The victory was Tolliver’s first as a starter and further darkened the future of backup quarterback Jim McMahon whose contract expires after the season.