The Kansas City Chiefs did their playoff aspirations no help on Sunday.

Nor did they help out their fans trying to figure out what it’ll take to get them in.

After losing 20-12 to the Steelers, the Chiefs are suddenly desperate for a whole lot of help.

They must beat the Chargers in their regular-season finale on Sunday, and then hope Cleveland can beat Baltimore and three-win Jacksonville can somehow upset Houston.

At least one hurdle is out of the way: The Chiefs also needed Buffalo to lose one of its final two games, and their AFC West brethren Oakland took care of that on Sunday.

“We’re not even looking at it like that,” wide receiver Dwayne Bowe said. “We’re just trying to get better at what we do, and if the chips fall like they may that’s great.”

Kansas City has not been to the playoffs in back-to-back years since 1994 and ’95.

Lost in this whole mess is that the Chiefs (8-7) have won just once in their past five games, a precipitous decline that closely mirrors last season. Kansas City began 9-0 in Andy Reid’s first season but won just two of its final seven games, limping into the postseason.

Ever since the Chiefs collapsed in the second half of a 45-44 loss to Indianapolis in the first round, they’ve repeated the mantra of “finish.”

In the largest sense, they’ve been referring to the entire season, but in a smaller sense, they mean games, drives and even individual plays.

They failed to finish anything on Sunday.

On individual plays, there was the gamble that Reid took to go for it on fourth-and-inches at the Pittsburgh 12 late in the first half.

Reid could have kicked a field goal to get within 10-9 at the break, but instead had Jamaal Charles run over left tackle. His star running back was bottled up for no gain, and the Chiefs instead took a four-point deficit into the half.

“We just couldn’t get it,” Charles said, “and the Steelers defense, they wanted it more than us, I think. Somebody came free, and he made the play.”

On drives, there was the Chiefs’ inability to pick up that critical first down. But perhaps more crippling, they had to resort to a trio of field goals when drives stalled in the red zone.

“Poor execution happened sometimes and got ourselves in some bad situations. Other times, I felt like we flowed and were moving the ball, staying on schedule, ahead of the chains, but then in the red zone we would have a negative play, a sack or something,” quarterback Alex Smith said. “So many little things make a difference down there and they get magnified.”

It all added up to an inability to finish the game.

Kansas City closed to 17-9 on Cairo Santos’s third field goal early in the fourth quarter.