Kansas City, Mo. ? The Kansas City Chiefs had a few chances to keep pace in the AFC playoff race. The Baltimore Ravens’ vaunted defense snatched every one away.

The Ravens sacked Trent Green five times and forced him to commit three turnovers – all on key first-half third downs – in Kansas City’s 20-10 loss Sunday.

“You can’t do that,” K.C. coach Herm Edwards said. “It’s hard to recover when you turn the ball over that many times.”

The game started well enough for Kansas City as the offense marched downfield, but Lawrence Tynes missed a 32-yard field goal in the swirling wind.

On their next drive, the Chiefs stalled after a false-start penalty on new starter John Welbourn.

“We had a lot of third-and-long situations,” Green said. “No matter what defense you’re playing, you’re not going to have a lot of success in those situations.”

Another fatal three-and-out killed the Chiefs’ last realistic chance early in the fourth quarter. With Kansas City trailing 13-3, K.C.’s Patrick Surtain recovered a fumble by fullback Ovie Mughlli and returned it to Baltimore’s 43-yard line.

A run and two incompletions later, Dustin Colquitt found himself punting for the third and final time.

“I wasn’t going to take a chance at that time,” Edwards said of his decision to punt with more than 12 minutes to play. “There was still enough time, and we got ’em backed up.”

But the Ravens constructed a 16-play, 86-yard drive that lasted more than nine minutes and ended with a one-yard Jamal Lewis touchdown.

Baltimore’s other touchdown came on an 87-yard pass from Steven McNair to Michael Clayton, who blasted by the entire defense before making the third-quarter catch.

“It was miscommunication between the safety and the cornerback,” Edwards said.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Trent Green (10) is sacked by Baltimore Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas. The Chiefs fell, 20-10, Sunday in Kansas City, Mo.

Trent Green threw a meaningless touchdown to Dante Hall on the next drive. Green completed 15 of 27 passes for 178 yards, good for a 57.3 passer rating, a big improvement over his 13.1 first-half rating.

Larry Johnson tallied 120 yards on 23 carries, earning his ninth 100-yard game of the season thanks largely to a 47-yard burst in the second quarter, his longest run of the season. Green’s fumble three plays later nullified the scoring chance.

“I was just trying to make something happen,” Green said of his three turnovers. “I’ll just leave it at that.”

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December to forget: The Chiefs are 0-2 this month and had an 18-game home winning streak in December snapped Sunday.

“You can’t expect a team like that to be intimidated,” Johnson said of Baltimore, paying its first visit to Arrowhead Stadium.

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Injuries: Johnson “banged his wrist,” but returned to the game without problems, Edwards said.

Linebacker Derrick Johnson saw his first extensive action since injuring his ankle Nov. 5 at St. Louis, starting on defense and playing even in third-down situations.

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Playoff hopes: The Chiefs are on the outside looking in for the playoffs. The most likely scenario for the Chiefs to advance – contingent on winning their final three games and finishing 10-6 – would be a tie with Denver and/or Jacksonville. The Chiefs would eliminate the Broncos by virtue of a better division record and slip by the Jaguars by defeating them on Dec. 31.

The Bengals and Jaguars are the front-runners for the wildcard spots at 8-5. The Jets, Broncos and Chiefs are tied at 7-6. The Bengals defeated the Chiefs in the season opener, and both Cincy and New York have better AFC records than Kansas City, giving them the edge in a tie.

“Just to have a chance at the playoffs,” rookie defensive end Tamba Hali said, “we have to win out.”

The Chiefs will play at San Diego at 7:15 p.m. Sunday. They then will face Oakland on the road before closing the season at home against Jacksonville.