Chiefs’ Fast Start Finishes Chargers : AFC: Kansas City takes quick 10-0 lead, spoils San Diego’s plans to get back in West Division race, 27-10.

It was over almost before it began. The big game, a big letdown.

Kansas City had a 10-0 lead and NBC-TV hadn’t gone to its first 10-minute update of scores around the league.

This was going to be the San Diego Chargers’ coming out party, no time to be fashionably late. But tardy they were, and unable to overcome a slow start in a 27-10 loss to the Chiefs before 63,717 in Arrowhead Stadium.

“They made the big play to start the game off,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “That set the tone.”

The Chiefs (6-4) had gone 10 quarters without a touchdown by their offense, but Steve DeBerg hit J.J. Birden for a 90-yard touchdown on the third play against the Chargers (5-6).

The hometown fans had booed a run by Christian Okoye for no gain on first down, and expressed their displeasure with Okoye on a second-yard stumble for two yards.

The Chargers’ had the Chiefs and DeBerg right where they wanted them: Third and eight at the Kansas City 10-yard line.

The Chargers intercepted seven of DeBerg’s passes in two games last season. They led the AFC in interceptions this season, and were third in sacks.

“We expected we’d have some pressure on DeBerg,” defensive coordinator Ron Lynn said. “At that point we wanted to come after him and let him know it was going to be a long afternoon. We went after him, but we didn’t get there.”

They weren’t even close. In the meantime, Birden, a free agent wide receiver, found a seam in the San Diego defense. DeBerg hit him with a dart and Birden didn’t stop until he ran himself into the Chiefs’ record books with the fourth-longest pass play for a touchdown in team history.

“Everything worked for them on that play to that one guy,” Lynn said. “Had he tried to throw it anywhere else, he had nowhere else to go.”

No consolation. After the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers took the ball on offense for the first time and Billy Joe Tolliver promptly fumbled the snap from center to give the Chiefs the ball at the San Diego 14-yard line.

Leslie O’Neal sacked DeBerg on third down, and forced Kansas City to settle for a Nick Lowery 36-yard field goal. But it was 10-0 with 10:53 remaining in the first quarter, and for this young and inexperienced team, it was a mountain they are not prepared yet to climb.

“We got knocked out of our game plan early,” guard David Richards said, “and that’s the same problem that’s happened in the past to us. We have to go out and make them play our game.”

The Chargers fought back on their second possession with a 42-yard John Carney field goal to make it 10-3, but they were out of sync. Instead of running Marion Butts, as they did to win four of their previous five games, they were trying to advance on the strength of Tolliver’s arm.

Tolliver went six for six to position Carney for his field goal, but he missed his next five passes and threw a momentum-ending interception in the third quarter.

In the second quarter, after Barry Word gained 34 yards on four carries, DeBerg faked a handoff to him and delivered a two-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Bill Jones for a 17-3 lead.

“They made plays on the play-action in areas that we had prepared for,” Henning said, “but we didn’t do a very good job of stopping it.”

Tolliver threw a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Derrick Walker on the opening series of the second half to make it 17-10.

When San Diego got the ball back, Tolliver, who had not thrown an interception in 141 passes, tried to go deep but the ball was intercepted by Kevin Ross. Ross’s 33-yard return set up Lowery’s 37-yard field goal to make it 20-10.

“That was a critical play,” Henning said, “and the fumbled snap was a critical play, the 90-yard touchdown pass was a critical play, and the penalties on four out of the five kickoffs were critical plays.”

When Tolliver left the game in the second quarter with a groin pull and strained knee, Mark Vlasic came in and threw an interception.

“Just dumb,” Tolliver said of the interception. “Other than all the turnovers, all the penalties and all the stupid things we did, if you had to single out one play, that was a momentum shifter.”

Tolliver completed 21 of 38 passes for 203 yards with two interceptions. Butts, the NFL’s leading rusher, was held to 40 yards-- his lowest output of the season.

The Chargers made five turnovers, the Chiefs none.