KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Alex Smith faked to the running back, as the second-and-goal play called for Sunday, and turned and fired to Chris Conley over the middle.
To that point, the Chiefs' game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had all the characteristics of another ugly win. Yes, the opponent had moved the ball some, and yes, the offense had been sluggish ... but all year long, the Chiefs had found a way to win games like this. It was bound to happen again against a young, sub-.500 Bucs team, right?
Wrong.
Chris Conte and Jameis Winston made sure of that, rallying the resilient Bucs to a 19-17 win over the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
The loss to the Bucs, 5-5, dropped the Chiefs' record to 7-3 and snapped their five-game winning streak and 10-game home winning streak.
And it all became real on the aforementioned play, when Conte, a safety, stepped in front of Smith's pass _ which came at the Bucs' 6-yard line, with the Chiefs only trailing by two _ and returned it 53 yards to prevent the Chiefs from taking the lead.
Winston, the Bucs' enthusiastic second-year signal caller, took it from there, guiding the visitors on a nine-play, 52-yard scoring drive that included three third-down conversion throws. The last came courtesy of a well-designed 3-yard completion to tight end Alan Cross, who scored a touchdown that put the Bucs ahead 19-10 with 6 minutes, 26 seconds left.
And while that score was enough to awaken a largely-stagnant Chiefs offense from a deep slumber _ they responded with a 12-play, 78-yard scoring drive finished by Smith's touchdown pass to receiver Albert Wilson _ the Bucs promptly got the ball back with a little over two minutes left and used their power rushing game to run out the clock.
It was, to be sure, a disappointing loss for the Chiefs, who must now lick their wounds and recover ahead of a prime-time showdown against a rested Denver team (7-3). The Broncos had a bye on Sunday and play host to the Chiefs next Sunday night.
The Chiefs can blame themselves for this one. They never dominated the line of scrimmage against the Bucs, who held running back Spencer Ware to 69 yards on 17 carries, and while Smith's stat line (24 of 31, 261 yards, one touchdown, one interception) was solid, the interception was brutal. The Chiefs were in position to kick a field goal that would have given them the lead, and the offense simply didn't find a rhythm until it was too late.
The Chiefs' defense, meanwhile, got outside linebacker Justin Houston back but was missing star cornerback Marcus Peters and also lost emerging edge rusher Dee Ford midway through the game with a hamstring injury. They simply never came up with the big stop that's been their trademark down the stretch this season. They also failed to generate any meaningful pressure on Winston, who was not sacked once as he helped the Bucs convert 11 of 16 third-down attempts.
All of that added up to a rotten ending to a cold Sunday at Arrowhead. The Chiefs started the game well enough, with a 22-yard field goal by Cairo Santos. And although the Bucs marched down to the Chiefs' 16-yard line on their first drive, it was snuffed out when the Chiefs _ who still haven't scored a touchdown on an opening drive this season but continue to lead the league in turnover margin _ recovered a Winston fumble.
But the Chiefs could do nothing with it, and after a quick first quarter, the Bucs knotted the game at 3 with a 31-yard field goal by beleaguered rookie Roberto Aguayo.
While Aguayo entered the game with one of the worst field goal-conversion percentages in the league (64.3), he saw plenty of work on Sunday: That field goal was the first of four the second-round draft pick sprinkled throughout the next two quarters.
Aguayo's next kick, from 22 yards out, gave the Bucs a short-lived 6-3 lead. The Chiefs responded by mounting a six-play, 80-yard drive that featured a 42-yard deep ball to receiver Tyreek Hill and an 11-yard touchdown scramble by Smith. That put the Chiefs ahead by four, but the lead was eventually sliced to 10-9 on another Aguayo field goal right before the break.
The Bucs did most of their damage through the air in the first half, compiling 203 of their 236 first-half yards via the arm of Winston, who finished the game 24 of 39 for 339 yards. In the second half, they began to pair their potent short passing game with some power runs, testing the physicality and gap discipline of the Chiefs' defensive front.
The Bucs marched 52 yards on nine plays to open the third quarter, and took a 12-10 lead with Aguayo's fourth field goal.
After both teams were forced to punt, the Chiefs were finally able to get something going again. A 44-yard completion to Travis Kelce gave the Chiefs the ball at the Bucs' 10, but disaster struck two plays later, when Smith threw the interception to set up the Bucs' touchdown throw.
The Chiefs bounced back with a touchdown, but the Bucs got the ball back and milked nearly two minutes off the clock with a first down. The Chiefs regained possession one last time with around 8 seconds left, but that wasn't enough time to counter.
