Same Old Stories in NFL

Marty Schottenheimer, done in by The Drive, The Fumble, and now The Fake, sat upright with class before his critics, offering no excuses, his Kansas City Chiefs left for dead, short of their objective, and their fans asked once again to handle postseason depression.

For the second time in three years the Chiefs, 13-3 as they were in 1995 and with the home advantage, were left behind while a lower-seeded team continues the march to the Super Bowl.

Two years ago it was the Cinderella Indianapolis Colts, but on this Sunday in Arrowhead Stadium before 76,965 it was a familiar nemesis, the Denver Broncos, winning the AFC divisional playoff game, 14-10, the same organization that flattened the Schottenheimer-coached Browns in the 1986 and 1987 AFC championship games.

Denver (14-4) will travel to Pittsburgh on Sunday to play for the AFC championship, and although the Broncos lost to the Steelers there last month, 35-24, the Broncos have the chance to become only the fourth NFL wild-card team to advance to the Super Bowl.

Kansas City, meanwhile, will probably have to hire extra help to man the local crises lines.

“It’s been John Elway; it’s been John Elway for 10 years,” said Paul Hackett, Chiefs’ offensive coordinator, who will arrive in Los Angeles on Wednesday to begin full-time work as USC’s new coach. “I had an opportunity to help him overcome that and I fell short as I feel everyone in this locker room feels. No one did a better job of coaching in the National Football League this year than Marty Schottenheimer.”

So maybe one day Marty Schottenheimer will get a gold watch, but for now his track record indicates he will get no closer to the Lombardi Trophy than anyone else sitting on their couch come Super Bowl Sunday.

“Of all the emotions in the world, self-pity is the absolute worst,” Schottenheimer said. “I have such disdain for people with self-pity.”

But to those critics who will continue to say that he cannot win in the playoffs, Schottenheimer said, “I can’t argue with them right now.”

Schottenheimer’s Chiefs have been unable to win postseason games because they have been unable to score, averaging only 10 points in seven playoff losses in the ‘90s.

Two years ago, they had only seven points against the Colts in squandering the home-field advantage, and although a commitment was made to add firepower at the start of this season, they were left behind again to ponder missed opportunities.

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of times you don’t get paid back for what you put in,” said Chief center Tim Grunhard. “It hurts, it really hurts . . . guys are in shock right now.”

Sitting on a stool in full uniform more than 30 minutes after the game, his head in his hands, kick return specialist Tamarick Vanover embodied the atmosphere in the locker room.

Schottenheimer, having finished his postgame news conference, walked around in his stocking feet, his shirt out, his hands on his hips and appearing lost. Long-time Chief Kevin Ross, now on injured reserve, placed a consoling arm around his boss and led him from the room.

Defensive back Dale Carter quickly threw on his clothes, stormed past the media and slammed the locker room door behind as he left without comment. Team owner Lamar Hunt sat in Ross’ locker area, staring off into the distance, while tight end Ted Popson declined to explain why he failed to step out of bounds on two plays in the closing seconds of the game.

“I told our football team that I have no words of wisdom that are meaningful to them at this point,” said Schottenheimer, who has never had a losing season in 14 years as an NFL coach, while posting a 5-11 playoff record. “No, I don’t [feel cursed in the playoffs], but certainly that’s a very legitimate question.”

After posting a 12-4 record in 1986 and taking a fourth-quarter lead in the mud at Cleveland, Schottenheimer watched helplessly as a young Elway drove his team 98 yards to tie the score and push the Broncos into overtime, where they won, 23-20. A year later in Denver, Earnest Byner fumbled short of the goal line, allowing Elway & Co. to go on to the Super Bowl with a 38-33 win.

And now The Fake, the ultimate irony being that Schottenheimer, so conservative in falling short before in the playoffs, was now trying to be unpredictable as so many suggested he would need to be to win the really big games.

On fourth and six at the Denver 31 in the fourth quarter, Schottenheimer sent out kicker Pete Stoyanovich, who made a 54-yarder in the same direction on Nov. 16 to beat Denver here, to try a 48-yard field goal with the Broncos leading, 14-10.

But instead of kicking, Schottenheimer uncharacteristically ordered a fake, a play he had installed earlier in the week specifically for the Broncos.

“I should have called it off,” said Louie Aguiar, the team’s punter and holder for Stoyanovich. “On film Nos. 21 and 33 had been in a three-point stance every time we had seen them line up, but this time No. 33 was standing up and I should have taken a delay of the game penalty and then punted, pinning them deep.”

Aguiar, however, elected to run the play, taking the snap from center and running right with the kind of speed that early in his career qualified him to be a punter if he was ever going to play this game for a living. Dragged down after a three-yard gain, The Fake allowed the Broncos to maintain a four-point advantage, a cushion that would force the Chiefs to try for a touchdown on the game’s final drive, despite being in position to kick what could have been the winning field goal.

Taking the ball with 4:04 to play, the Chiefs drove to the Denver 28 before Schottenheimer used his final timeout.

“I chose to use it to become organized,” Schottenheimer said. “I considered using it with 2:18 to go, but elected to run time off the clock to the two-minute warning.”

The final two minutes, however, became a blur for the Chiefs, whose season ended in chaos. On first down, quarterback Elvis Grbac threw to running back Kimball Anders for one yard, the clock running, and then short again to Popson, who chose to run straight ahead rather than scooting to the sideline to stop the clock.

Fifty-six seconds to play, the clock still running and on third and six, Grbac threw to Popson again, who ignored the sideline and was stopped at the Denver 20.

Fourth and two, the clock moving and the Chief season rested on Grbac, who was making his first playoff start.

Earlier in the half he had burned a timeout after running with the ball on two consecutive plays, too tired to continue without a rest. He was forced to use another timeout in the third quarter after there was confusion relating to a blocking scheme.

“At the end there we couldn’t communicate with him because of the crowd noise,” said Hackett, who was relaying the offensive plays from the press box to the sideline, where they were then supposed to be relayed to Grbac through the audio hookup in his helmet. “He couldn’t hear through that entire four-play sequence, and with no timeouts, you’re hoping for an incomplete pass.”

But the very worst thing happened: Grbac completed his short passes and the Chiefs remained in bounds, the clock running and the tension and excitement overwhelming Grbac, who was now required to call his own plays.

“I still have no idea what play he called on fourth down,” said Hackett, who like everyone else had to watch and wonder what was going to transpire. “He called for maximum protection, which didn’t leave him with many options, and I thought Andre Rison was there on a hitch for the first down, but he tried to make a play.”

Instead of going for the two yards and the first down, Grbac went for it all in the end zone, but his pass for Lake Dawson was knocked down by Bronco defender Darrien Gordon, leaving 12 seconds on the clock and one more Elway kneel down to drive a stake into Schottenheimer’s heart.

“We’re just glad to come in here and get a win,” said Elway, now 9-7 in the playoffs. “Marty’s teams always have a great plan and you know it’s going to come down to the wire every time you play him.”

And every time you know who’s going to win.