CHIEFS SHOCK SUPERBOWL CHAMP STEELERS

The old football yarn suggests that ‘On any given Sunday, any team can lose to another in the NFL’.  Nowhere was that more evident than in Kansas City this past weekend.  Former University of South Carolina standout Ryan Succop kicked a 22 yard field goal in overtime to give the Kansas City Chiefs a 27-24 home victory over the defending Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  The win ended a franchise record ten game home losing streak.  With the win, Kansas City improved to 3-7 while Pittsburgh slumped to 6-4.

With the outright win the Chiefs also took the money for their financial backers, covering the NFL pointspread as +11 home underdogs.  Kansas City evened their ATS mark at 5-5, and they’ve covered three straight and five of six games.  Pittsburgh dropped to 3-7 against the money.  The 51 combined points went OVER the posted total of 39’.  Kansas City has a NFL totals mark of 5-3-2, while Pittsburgh evened their record at 5-5.

Adding insult to injury, the Steelers also lost their starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to an inadvertent knee to the helmet.  Head coach Mike Tomlin gave this assessment of his injury:

"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. 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."

Chiefs’ coach Todd Haley, meanwhile, was elated over the biggest win of his brief NFL coaching career:

“This job is not for the faint of heart.  It's nice to get a little reward against a team like that. I thought the guys really showed heart and guts.”

Steelers’ wide receiver Hines Ward said the loss was due to his team’s inability to finish the game:

"I think we lost the momentum in the third quarter with all the turnovers and stuff like that. When you let a team hang around like that, you give them a chance. When you give them hope, they thrive off the crowd noise. They took it into overtime and did what they had to do."

No one was happier than Kansas City kicker Succop, who booted the winning field goal.  The last player selected in the 2009 NFL draft gave had these comments:

"To do it against the defending Super Bowl champions is a great feeling. A lot of hard work has gone into it and our coaches and players and everybody has really bought in."

The Steelers will hit the road to try to get back in the win column this Sunday as they face the Baltimore Ravens.  That game is currently off the board due to the Roethlisberger injury.  After that they’ll play the Oakland Raiders at home on Sunday, December 6 before a quick turnaround to play the Cleveland Browns on the road the following Thursday.  Kansas City will try to keep their momentum going as they play at San Diego this Sunday.  The Chiefs are +13’ road underdogs with the total set at 45.  That’ll be followed by back to back home games against the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills.