What Elway Jinx? Chiefs Rout Broncos : AFC: Schottenheimer uses defense to beat his nemesis and put Kansas City in playoffs, 42-20.

Marty Schottenheimer has finally beaten John Elway.

Schottenheimer and his Kansas City Chiefs made it to the playoffs by breaking the longtime Elway jinx and beating the Denver Broncos, 42-20, Sunday.

They will play next weekend in a wild-card game because San Diego won the AFC West by beating Seattle, 31-14.

The Kansas City defense, led by linebacker Derrick Thomas, scored three touchdowns against the Broncos and set up a fourth.

Thomas, who had three of the Chiefs’ six sacks and two forced fumbles, was directly reponsible for two scores. A hit by Thomas on Elway forced an interception that was returned for a touchdown, and he sacked Elway in the end zone and fell on the ball for another score.

“I guess you could say it was one of our best defensive games,” Thomas said. “I had a lot of fun out there.”

The Chiefs also held Denver out of the end zone twice when the Broncos had first and goal.

Dave Krieg of the Chiefs had touchdown passes of 12 and five yards to Jonathan Hayes, who entered the game with only five catches and added four more on Sunday as the Chiefs finished with a 10-6 record.

But the victory was mainly a product of defense. How else can you explain that the Chiefs scored 42 points on only 220 yards from scrimmage and crossed midfield on its own just once?

“Dan Reeves told me coming off the field, ‘You play defense like that and you can’t lose,’ ” Schottenheimer said.

Reeves’ Broncos (8-8) could have gotten the AFC’s final playoff spot from the Chiefs had they won. They won the first meeting, 20-19, with Elway throwing two touchdown passes in the final two minutes.

That was typical of Elway’s career against Schottenheimer, who was 1-9 against him coming in and suggested that the Denver quarterback had a Marty Schottenheimer doll in which he stuck pins. Two of the victories produced by Elway came in AFC title games while Schottenheimer was in Cleveland, including one in 1986 in which he engineered a 98-yard drive in the final minutes to send the game into overtime.

Schottenheimer was helped this time in preparation by center Mike Baab, who played for him in Cleveland and came out of retirement last month when regular center Tim Grunhard was injured.

“We had the veterans talk to the guys during the week, and Mike said, ‘I hate Denver,’ ” Schottenheimer said. “I said ‘I know, Mike. I’ve been there.’ ”

Elway actually got the Broncos off to a 7-0 lead, hitting Reggie Johnson with a 12-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter after a 62-yard pass play to Arthur Marshall off a third-and-one flea-flicker.

But the Chiefs then got three touchdowns in nine minutes of the second and third quarters.

First, Krieg connected with Hayes on his 12-yarder. Then, Thomas made his first big play, grabbing Elway on the next series as he was about to throw and forcing the ball to pop up in the air. Safety Bennie Thompson grabbed it and, although replays indicated he was down, Thompson lateraled to safety Charles Mincy, who took it 32 yards for the score.

Dale Carter returned an interception 36 yards for a score early in the third period to make it 21-7.

Then, after two field goals by David Treadwell, Thomas put the game away early in the fourth period by tomahawking the ball from Elway and falling on it in the end zone to make it 28-13.

“You always want to make a big play down by the goal line,” Thomas said. “This time when I got there Elway’s arm was in the right position. I stripped him and luckily the ball bounced right up too me.”

Said Reeves of Thomas: “We couldn’t slow him down. We had a plan. We were going to cover him with a tight end and a back. But he’s a tough task for anyone, particularly with the crowd into it. On his touchdown, he went right around the tackle and the back couldn’t get him.”