Landover, Md. — In the locker room, the quarterback presented the game ball to the rookie head coach, who was still wet from the celebratory sideline ice bath. The coach then gave the ball to Mr. Irrelevant, a player no longer worthy of his nickname.
The Kansas City Chiefs are winless no more. Neither is coach Todd Haley, who earned victory No. 1 with an assist from the last player taken in this year’s draft. Ryan Succop kicked four field goals in Sunday’s 14-6 victory over the Washington Redskins, whose season is tanking toward oblivion because of losses to winless teams.
“We made it pretty difficult, right down to the end,” Haley said. “We’ve pushed through a very difficult period. We needed to get some positive reinforcement with a win.”
Succop, chosen No. 256 from South Carolina, converted from 39, 46, 46 and 24 yards, and Tamba Hali added a safety for good measure, sacking Todd Collins in the end zone in the final minute. The Chiefs (1-5), who had lost 28 of their previous 30, avoided the first 0-6 start in team history.
“There’s been a lot of change, but this has definitely been special,” said quarterback Matt Cassel, who got his first Chiefs win after coming from New England in an offseason trade. “We rose to the occasion. We made some big plays. We put ourselves in a position to score points.”
The dreary game between two dreary teams on a dreary day produced two simple truths: The Chiefs won’t go 0-16, and the Redskins can’t get in the end zone regardless of who is playing quarterback. Afterward, the Redskins told embattled coach Jim Zorn they’re taking away his play-calling duties; a replacement is expected to be announced today.
Booed mercilessly again — as they have been at every home game — the Redskins failed to get more than a temporary boost after Zorn benched Jason Campbell at halftime and opted for Collins.
Collins immediately led two drives for field goals that gave Washington a 6-3 lead, but the Redskins failed to score a touchdown at home for the second time this season.
“I felt the need to create a spark on our football team offensively and went with Todd,” said Zorn, whose postgame news conference was punctuated with frequent, deep sighs. “I think the guys responded well. We kept our spark, at times, and then we refizzled.”
The Redskins already had embarrassing losses to Detroit and Carolina. They are 2-4 despite being the first team in NFL history to open the season with six straight games against winless opponents. The questions about Zorn’s job security and the overall future of the franchise will only intensify.
“When you lose to teams that you know you should beat, when teams that hadn’t won a game come in and beat us, it just makes it tough,” defensive end Phillip Daniels said.
Comments
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labmonkey (anonymous) says…
How stupid was it that the doused Haley with the Gatorade bucket? I mean you won only because the other team sucked more than you did....you didn't win the friggin Super Bowl!!!
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
Did you watch that game? The Redskins just wanted to lose it more than the Chiefs did.
Jaminrawk (anonymous) says…
labmonkey - I think it was more of a "monkey off the back" sort of celebration. You can complain about a win a million different ways but it was still a win. I for one was really pleased with the way the team played overall. They were going up against the #4 (at the time) defense in the NFL in DC and came away with a win. Get over it.
emptymind (anonymous) says…
Like you say Jaminrawk...a win is a win. Ive been a Chiefs fan all my life and am very happy to beat the Skins. It counts as a win, all you others who are downgrading this, then you are not true fans. KC played well and Washington didn't..result KC wins
Did_I_say_that (DIST) says…
"Winless no more" and "...first victory" - The headlines make it sound like the Chiefs have never won before. They have won before - eleven months and 30 games ago; but they have one. Well, not with this quarterback, coach, team, etc.... okay, "Winless no more" and "...first victory," probably are accurate. Congratulations, Chiefs! Only ten more to go.