The Chiefs’ Lambeau Leap of Faith

To get an idea of how old the Kansas City Chiefs’ franchise is, take a look at their kicker.

Informally, he is known as Morten Andersen, but that’s only among close friends and family members. Everyone else associated with the NFL refers to him by one of his three official titles:

1. Ancient Morten Andersen.

2. Ageless Morten Andersen.

3. Jurassic Morten Andersen.

Anderson was born a long, long time ago, in 1960, same as the Chiefs, who are so old, they weren’t even Chiefs back then. As charter members of the American Football League, they were originally known as the Dallas Texans, beating Houston’s current NFL entry to the nickname by a good four decades.

The Chiefs played in the first Super Bowl, and won the fourth. They have been quarterbacked by Len Dawson and Joe Montana. They have been coached by Hank Stram and Marv Levy. They have pitched the ball wide to Mike Garrett and Marcus Allen.

But until Sunday, they had never started a season 6-0.

And now we know why.

Who ever figured the game plan to 6-0 would look like this:

Step 1: Travel to Lambeau Field, where the Green Bay Packers enjoy one of the league’s most formidable home-field advantages.

Step 2: Line up against Brett Favre.

Step 3: Fall behind Favre by 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Step 4: Turn a tipped Favre pass with nine minutes left into a 79-yard interception return and touchdown.

Step 5: Get two late field goals from Andersen, the last tying the game with one second on the clock.

Step 6: Set up Andersen for the potential game-winning field goal with 9:09 left in overtime.

Step 7: Have that kick blocked.

Step 8: Have Packer running back Ahman Green fumble the ball back to you on the next play.

Step 9: Have Trent Green pass 51 yards to Eddie Kennison for the winning touchdown on the play after that.

Three consecutive plays. Blocked kick + recovered fumble + deep ball to Kennison = 40-34 victory over the Packers at Green Bay and the first 6-0 start in Chief history.

Kansas City Coach Dick Vermeil was so moved by this amazing sequence of events that he had to fight back tears in the postgame interview room. OK, that last event is not so amazing. Vermeil’s tear ducts and his kick return man, Dante Hall, operate on similar schedules. It doesn’t take much for the floodgates to open.

How could the Packers blow a 31-14 lead fourth-quarter lead at Lambeau?

Maybe they were too busy congratulating themselves for keeping Hall out of the end zone for the first time in five games.

Hall’s main contribution in this one was a 32-yard punt return with 14 minutes left, setting up Priest Holmes’ eventual touchdown run and the first leg of the comeback. One small jaunt by Hall’s standards, but one giant leap for the Chiefs, who scored 26 of the game’s final 29 points.

In another overtime game, Carolina defeated Indianapolis, 23-20, on a 47-yard field goal by John Kasay. The Panthers win another with their special teams. Nothing new there.

Except this: By dropping the previously unbeaten Colts to 5-1, the Panthers emerged from Week 6 as one of only three remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. The Chiefs are 6-0, the Panthers are 5-0 -- and a double-take 9-1 since last Thanksgiving -- and the idle Minnesota Vikings are 5-0.

That’s some kind of perfect circle. None of the three ’03 unbeatens had a winning record in ’02. Kansas City, at 8-8, was the best of the lot. And the names of the quarterbacks who have carried the Chiefs, Panthers and Vikings to this improbable point? Trent Green, Jake Delhomme and Gus Frerotte.

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The league has been turned on its head. For further evidence, consult today’s NFC East standings, which read:

Dallas 4-1

Washington 3-3

New York Giants 2-3

Philadelphia 2-3

The Giants lost to the New England Patriots, 17-6, with a performance that many will find reassuring, proving that professional teams representing New York and Boston can compete in a civilized manner during October.

The Giants, however, play an uncivilized sport, so this wasn’t entirely a good thing. In fact, they could have used Don Zimmer as a blitzing linebacker. Despite outgaining the Patriots, 199 yards to 29, in the first half, the Giants trailed at intermission, 7-3, and committed a total of five turnovers.

Philadelphia kept pace by coughing up the quickest deficit in league history en route to a 23-21 loss at Dallas. The Eagles trailed, 7-0, after only three seconds -- trying to surprise the Cowboys with a game-opening onside kick, only to have Dallas’ Randal Williams recover and run it back 37 yards for a touchdown.

Obviously, the Cowboys were not surprised. They may have a new coaching staff, but they keep old game films. They noticed that in 2000, the Eagles began a game against the Cowboys with an onside kick. Philadelphia recovered that one to jump-start a 41-14 Eagle victory, kicking off the Dave Campo era in Dallas in ominous style.

This was Onside Kick, The Sequel. It wasn’t the smartest move of the week. But it wasn’t the dumbest, not in a league where Jack Del Rio thinks a little locker-room lumberjacking is a perfectly reasonable way to motivate professional football players.

Putting the ax in Jacksonville, Jaguar Coach Del Rio had been getting a lot of mileage out of the wooden stump he rolled into the team’s practice-facility dressing room. Here’s the log, Del Rio told his players, here’s an ax, get at it, boys, and keep choppin’ wood.

Seeking to debunk long-standing stereotypes about punters, Jaguar punter Chris Hanson grabbed the ax, prepared to take his hacks ... and wound up slicing open his leg, an injury that will sideline Hanson for the remainder of the season.

Would Hanson have made a difference in Jacksonville’s 24-10 loss to Miami? Probably not. His replacement, ex-Dolphin Mark Royals, punted only once for 42 yards.

Trying to alleviate an embarrassing situation, Byron Leftwich, Jacksonville’s rookie quarterback, turned the ball over to Miami three times on interceptions. Hanson picked up an ax, Leftwich picked up the slack, the Jaguars played four quarters and really didn’t need a punter.

It’s a team game, football.