Kansas City, Mo. ? It wasn’t the 34-24 loss to Denver that alarmed Kansas City fans as much as how the Broncos got the 34 points.

All night long, some people felt they were experiencing deja vu: watching the same players commit the same defensive shortcomings that new coordinator Gunther Cunningham was supposed to fix.

It seemed that way to head coach Dick Vermeil, too.

“The problems are basically the same,” Vermeil said Tuesday. “People need to play with better discipline and better technique and more consistently than they are. They will do it, or someone else will do it for them.”

After finishing 30th overall against the run a year ago, the Chiefs are tied with New England for 30th again as they prepare for Sunday’s home opener against Carolina.

The Broncos, led by Quentin Griffin, romped for more than 200 yards rushing in Sunday’s game.

A poor defensive performance against Carolina surely would revive complaints about Kansas City’s decision not to pursue any defensive free agents in the offseason. Except for a couple of high draft choices whom the Chiefs admit will take time to develop, the only significant addition to the defense is Cunningham.

Instead of investing in the free-agent market, Kansas City re-signed a few veterans, including defensive end Eric Hicks and safety Jerome Woods.

“I would love to go out and take my salary cap and sign every multimillionaire we could sign,” Vermeil said. “But we can’t do that.

“I think we did, and the organization believes we did, the right thing with our people. Eric Hicks, we re-signed. The two safeties, we re-signed. And I think most people would do the same thing.”

Cunningham spent the offseason and every day of training camp trying to install a new plan and a new attitude for the defense.

Nevertheless, the entire organization was disappointed to see so many players revert to their old ways in key situations against Denver, which had 16 plays of 10 or more yards.

“Defensively, actually, we’ve experienced the same problems we’ve always had with certain positions breaking down within the scheme and the discipline,” Vermeil said.

“So, we’ve got to put more than penicillin on it. We’ve got to fix the problem. But I think a game like that continues to define things for Gun and the defensive coaching staff and what we have to do.”

There were three basic problems, Vermeil said.

“First, it’s someone not filling his responsibility, and, No. 2, missing a tackle,” he said. “No. 3, I don’t get into or talk about with the media. They do occur, and the league concurs with you after you turn it in. That’s just the way it is. It’s the same on both sides. I’ve learned to stay out of all that stuff. I don’t want to give our players any excuses.”