Kansas City, Mo. ? With a defense giving up more than 400 yards and 30 points a game, the Kansas City Chiefs may have picked a bad year for a killer schedule.

The Chiefs (1-1), who would be 0-2 if Cleveland linebacker Dwayne Rudd hadn’t committed the bonehead play of the year, will face five teams in the next six weeks that are 2-0.

Only the New York Jets (1-1) among the Chiefs’ next six foes already have a loss.

It starts with a trip this week to defending Super Bowl champion New England. The Patriots have not been favored in a game yet this year, but that’ll change when they line up against a Kansas City defense that was gouged for scoring plays of 37, 79 and 63 yards by Jacksonville. New England is an 812-point favorite.

After New England, it’s back home for a date against the 2-0 Miami Dolphins. Then the schedule the following two weeks sends Dick Vermeil’s team east again for the Jets before catapulting them to the West Coast to get re-acquainted with former coach Marty Schottenheimer and his San Diego Chargers.

Does anybody think Schottenheimer won’t have his new team ready to beat his old team?

Then it’s back home for consecutive games against AFC West rivals Denver and Oakland, who are also unbeaten in the first two games of what’s sure to be a long and painful season for the Chiefs if they don’t improve on defense.

“It doesn’t get any easier from here, and we know that,” said guard Brian Waters. “We knew that when we got the schedule.”

Vermeil said a review of Sunday’s 23-16 loss to Jacksonville had confirmed most of what he’d felt right after the game.

“I don’t think there’s any reason to panic,” Vermeil said Monday. “I see a lot of things we can build on.”

The most immediate concern is the defense. The Chiefs have made no interceptions and only one sack in their first two games. Against Jacksonville on Sunday, they did manage to put pressure on Mark Brunell a few times.

One problem with the pass rush has been inexperienced cornerbacks Eric Warfield and William Bartee, who have been inconsistent.

“We’ll eventually get more pressure,” Vermeil said. “Sometimes sacks occur also because you get good coverage. A few times, (Brunell) scrambled out of a couple of sacks. Yes, we have to get more pressure. We have to get more pressure inside, No. 1, and then we have to cover better.”

Warfield, a second-year starter, was beaten on the longest pass play in Jacksonville’s eight-year history. He tried to bat down Brunell’s pass to Patrick Johnson on a slant route but missed, and Johnson went 79 yards down the sideline for the go-ahead TD in the fourth quarter.

Nevertheless, Vermeil sees progress.

“They came after him two or three other times and he did a very fine job. I’m pleased with that kind of improvement,” Vermeil said.

The week before at Cleveland, Warfield had been burned several times.

“I hate to see a corner that has a bad game one week and the next week comes and hides in his shell. Those guys, you can’t make corners out of them,” Vermeil said.

“I like guys who’ve been beaten and battered around and booed a little and line up the next week and compete. That shows they have the mental aptitude to be a corner in this league.”