Chiefs Make Gamble Pay Off

Dick Vermeil was going to be the biggest fool or the shrewdest gambler in the NFL.

With five seconds left, Kansas City trailed by three and had the ball on the Oakland one-yard line and Vermeil faced one of the toughest decisions of his long coaching career.

Have Lawrence Tynes -- on a 13-for-13 streak -- kick a virtually automatic field goal and force overtime? Or roll the dice and go for the win?

Vermeil went for the touchdown. Behind center Casey Wiegmann and 10-time Pro Bowl right guard Will Shields, Larry Johnson dived over the pile into the end zone for a 27-23 victory that brought a roar from the sellout crowd and left the emotional coach in tears.

“Wow! I was scared. I just figured I’m too old to wait,” said Vermeil, who recently turned 69. “If we had not made it, then you guys [reporters] would have had a lot of fun with that. It was not an impulsive thing. It was the right thing for us to do.”

The sixth straight victory for the Chiefs (5-3) over the Raiders (3-5) kept them one game behind Denver in the AFC West and dealt Oakland a painful loss.

“This is about as bitter a defeat as you could have,” said Oakland quarterback Kerry Collins, whose two fourth-quarter touchdown passes put the Raiders on top.

Johnson and Trent Green made the sensational finish possible when Green hit the wide-open running back over the middle. He sped 36 yards before Nnamdi Asomugha and Stuart Schweigert caught him at the one.

“Down in the red zone, he put the ball in my hands,” said Johnson, who has publicly complained that Vermeil does not give him enough carries. “I’m glad they gave me the opportunity.”