Kansas City upsets Steelers in OT; Roethlisberger hurt

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November 23, 2009

By DOUG TUCKER The Tribune-Democrat Mon Nov 23, 2009, 08:48 AM EST

KANSAS CITY, Mo — When the long-suffering Kansas City Chiefs win, they declare a holiday.

After Ryan Succop’s 22-yard field goal boosted the Chiefs past defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh 27-24 in overtime Sunday, coach Todd Haley made a happy announcement.

Instead of practicing on Thursday as they had planned, the Chiefs will now get Thanksgiving off.

Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks must be tired of getting hurt in Kansas City.

First it was Eli Manning, who injured his heel in the New York Giants’ 27-16 victory Oct. 4.

Now it’s Ben Roethlisberger. Not only does his injury sound worse, his team also lost to the Chiefs. The Steelers dropped to 6-4 when Succop kicked the field goal with 8:28 left in overtime, which enabled the Chiefs to snap a 10-game home losing streak.

Minutes earlier, Roethlisberger walked off the field on wobbly legs with what coach Mike Tomlin thought might be a concussion. Linebacker Derrick Johnson was helping drag Roethlisberger down for a sack when his knee appeared to crash into the quarterback’s head.

Roethlisberger lay on the turf for several minutes before walking off.

“He took a blow, needless to say, it was a concussion-oriented thing so I doubt he was going to come back into the football game,” Tomlin said. “I don’t have a lot of information in terms of where he is or his level of availability. We will have more information as we proceed.”

Roethlisberger had thrown for 398 yards and three TDs before he was relieved by Charlie Batch. The defending Super Bowl champs (6-4) have lost two in a row and may be falling out of contention. For the fourth time in five games, they gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown. They also gave up a 94-yard interception return that KC turned into 3 points.

Nevertheless, Tomlin said he had no sense the team was unprepared.

“Actually, I did not. But the execution would indicate the case,” he said. “That is where I judge the preparedness, ultimately, on how we perform. The performance was below the line so the preparation must have been.”

Kansas City’s Matt Cassel rebounded from a miserable first half to throw two touchdown passes in the second for the Chiefs (3-7). Facing third down in overtime, he connected with Chris Chambers for a 61-yard gain that set up Succop’s game-winner.

“It’s a play we ran a couple of times,” said Chambers. “We caught them in a blitz and I was able to come across the middle wide open. Matt waited for me, gave me a great ball and I was able to pull it down, make one move and go down the sideline. I should have scored but at least I got it down to the point where we could kick a field goal and win the game.”

Just before Chambers got loose on his long play, Steelers cornerback Ike Taylor dropped a potential interception.

“This job is not for the faint of heart,” said a beaming Todd Haley, the Chiefs’ rookie coach.

NOTES: The Steelers have given up a fumble, interception or kick return for a touchdown in eight consecutive games. ... Roethlisberger’s big game followed one of his worst, when he threw for 174 yards and had a 51.5 passer rating against Cincinnati the week before. ... The Chiefs had not won back-to-back games since beating Cincinnati and Oakland Oct. 14-21, 2007.

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