Kansas City, Mo. ? The hottest offense in the NFL has pulled the Kansas City Chiefs away from the brink and into the AFC West race.

The last two weeks, Trent Green, Priest Holmes, Tony Gonzalez and an overpowering offensive line have helped Kansas City amass 1,030 yards and 101 points. The Chiefs swamped two teams with winning records, Atlanta and Indianapolis.

Once they were 1-4. Now they are 3-4 and headed for what would appear to be winnable road games against Tampa Bay and New Orleans before coming home for a Monday night assignment against New England.

Also helping are the Denver Broncos, who have lost two in a row and dropped into a first-place tie in the AFC West with San Diego at 5-3. The Chiefs are only 1.5 games behind and have home-and-home games left against the Chargers and what could be a key Dec. 19 home date with the Broncos.

Kansas City even got a long-sought taste of revenge Sunday with a 45-35 win over Indianapolis, the team that knocked the Chiefs out of last year’s playoffs.

“It’s very huge for us,” said Green, who passed for 389 yards and three touchdowns against the Colts. “Right now we’re not even at .500. So even though we’ve gotten two big wins in a row that we feel really good about, we have to continue to get back to .500 and that all starts (this) week.”

Coach Dick Vermeil said it was hard to imagine an offense being much sharper.

“Obviously, the offense played very, very well,” Vermeil said Monday. “When you do what they’ve done two weeks in a row you have to give a lot of credit to (offensive coordinator) Al Saunders and the coaching staff. They’ve done a great job. Players have been, for the most part, executing very well against some pretty good football teams.”

Since 1970, only one NFL team has scored more than 101 points in consecutive games: the 2000 St. Louis Rams with 102.

The only Kansas City team with more than the 590 yards in total offense the Chiefs had against the Colts was the 1966 team, which ran up 614 at Denver.

Kansas City safety Greg Wesley, left, intercepts a pass in front of Indianapolis receiver Brandon Stokley with 1:54 remaining in the fourth quarter. Wesley, shown Sunday in Kansas City, Mo., helped seal the Chiefs' 45-35 victory by intercepting the pass from Colts quarterback Peyton Manning.

For Holmes, it was the second straight game to enter the record book. He and backup Derrick Blaylock scored four rushing TDs each against Atlanta for an NFL record. Against the Colts, he had 143 yards rushing and 82 receiving, giving him a team-record 5,423 yards from scrimmage in his career.

“Here he is just three and a half seasons into his career as a Chief, and he’s the all-time total offense leader in the history of the team,” Vermeil said. “It reflects our offensive line and the offensive coaches.”

Now the problem will be avoiding a letdown when they travel Sunday to Tampa Bay to meet the 2-5 Buccaneers.

“We will do everything we can to be as ready for that game as we were (Sunday) and a week ago,” Vermeil said. “I’m sure Tampa has a home-field advantage, but I believe we will get ourselves ready to play and play well.”

The Rams, with an offense very similar in style and structure to Kansas City’s, beat the Buccaneers, 28-21, last month by concentrating mostly on the pass. St. Louis’ Marc Bulger threw for 264 yards in a game Chiefs coaches already were studying Monday afternoon.

“Our scheme is similar,” Vermeil said. “Formation packages are similar, and we do a lot of the same things.

“Some things we do better, some things the Rams do better. But everybody knows that we’re the No. 1 running team in the NFL and we’re going to run the football. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to throw.”

If they can survive the next two weeks on the road, the Chiefs could even be in a position to command their own destiny after a miserable 1-4 beginning.

“We’ve dug ourselves into a hole, and the only thing we’ve done is narrow our margin,” Vermeil said. “We’ve narrowed it pretty tight. We can’t afford not to play well.”

Kansas City quarterback Trent Green (10) throws a pass to tight end Tony Gonzalez against Indianapolis. The Chiefs beat the Colts, 45-35, Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.