Schottenheimer Has the Blues in Kansas City

When it comes to word association, “Marty Schottenheimer” and “Kansas City” usually produce “disappointing endings.” Sunday was no different.

Schottenheimer took his San Diego Chargers to Kansas City, back to the city where he coached from 1989-1998. It was a 10-season run that consisted mostly of winning football and sellout crowds, but will be remembered for sour aftertastes: a 3-7 record in the playoffs, including two seasons when they couldn’t convert 13-3 regular-season records into a playoff victory.

Sunday, he lost to a team without the top offensive weapon in the league, on a field goal kicked by a guy who hadn’t put one through a pair of NFL uprights in two years.

The last bit of ignominy came courtesy of Michael Husted, a late replacement for the injured Morten Andersen. Husted drove home a 38-yard field goal with 1:08 remaining to provide the winning margin in Kansas City’s 24-22 victory at Arrowhead Stadium.

Both Kansas City and San Diego have 8-7 records and faint playoff hopes, which the Chiefs prolonged and the Chargers practically wasted. Victories in its final two games would have assured San Diego a berth.

This was like a playoff game in that the Chargers had to win to avoid needing everything short of divine intervention to qualify for the postseason. And it was like a playoff game in that Schottenheimer cranked up his intensity beyond rational and into the realm of pressing too hard. When you want to win that badly you sometimes do things that don’t make sense -- such as calling for replay to challenge the placement of the football.

With the Chiefs trailing by a point and driving in San Diego territory, Kansas City running back Mike Cloud carried the ball just beyond the first-down marker at the Charger 36 on fourth and one. Schottenheimer tossed out his red flag, the officials reviewed the play and concluded there was not indisputable evidence that the spot was wrong. Is there ever?

Afterward, Schottenheimer sounded ready to blame the TV producers.

“The problem they’re having is they’re not getting the looks out of television that they need,” he said. “That certainly was one that we had to challenge.”

Losing cost the Chargers their third timeout. So after Husted (a guy who has been cut twice this year, including once by the Chiefs three games into the season) kicked the go-ahead field goal, the Chargers had to move into field-goal range from their 35 with 1:01 remaining and no timeouts.

On the Chargers’ third play, quarterback Drew Brees found Reche Caldwell over the middle, but Caldwell fumbled and Shaunard Harts recovered to seal the victory.

“To be so close and for something like that to happen, it rips your heart out,” Brees said.

Maybe it shouldn’t have been so close in the first place. The Chiefs came in with the last-ranked defense in the league. Running back Priest Holmes, who has scored 24 touchdowns this season and accounted for more than 40% of the team’s yardage -- was sidelined because of a hip injury.

As Charger linebacker Donnie Edwards said, “It’s very disappointing, because we had a great opportunity ... these opportunities in the NFL don’t come along that often. When you get that opportunity you have to go after it, and we failed to achieve it.”

Coach Dick Vermeil seemed to have his team better prepared for the moment.

The Chiefs moved down the field on their second possession and scored on an eight-yard pass from Trent Green to Marc Boerigter.

Kansas City forced San Diego into third-and-long situations throughout the first half, one reason the Chargers converted only two of 12 third downs. They had only two field goals to show for their first three trips inside the Kansas City 35.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs put together an 88-yard drive, capped by a six-yard pass from Green to Omar Easy out of the backfield. That was the only easy thing about it; the drive took 13 plays and 6:45.

The real easy way came in the third quarter. The whole field in one play. After a Darren Bennett punt pinned the Chiefs on their two, a false start penalty moved the ball half the distance to the goal line.

No problem. Green lofted a pass over defensive back Rogers Beckett to Boerigter, who outraced Beckett to the end zone for the ninth 99-yard touchdown in NFL history and the Chiefs led, 21-6.

Then the Chargers came to life, scoring two touchdowns and a field goal in about 11 1/2 minutes. (A two-point conversion on their first touchdown failed.)

But they couldn’t finish off the Chiefs, not even when they had them pinned on their three-yard line with 5:23 left to play.

“Right now, we aren’t fine-tuned the way we need to be fine-tuned to make these plays that I talk about all the time,” Schottenheimer said.

But when it comes to blowing the big ones, Schottenheimer was in peak form.

J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com