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Tynes boots 53-yard field goal to lift Chiefs over Chargers

Oct 22, 2006 - 8:49 PM KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Lawrence Tynes' kick overshadowed Marty Schottenheimer's trick.

Tynes kicked a career-long 53-yard field goal with six seconds remaining to lift the Kansas City Chiefs to a dramatic 30-27 victory over the San Diego Chargers.

The first meeting of the season between the AFC West rivals offered up plenty of excitement as the Chargers rallied from a 17-point first-half deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter.

Schottenheimer, who coached the Chiefs from 1989-98 and guided the franchise to three division titles and eight playoff appearances, went away from his normally conservative approach when the Chargers tied the game.

Schottenheimer called for a play that saw running back LaDainian Tomlinson take a handoff and run to his right before pulling up to find tight end Brandon Manumaleuna for a one-yard touchdown pass with 5:10 left to knot the contest at 27-27. It was the Pro Bowler's fifth career TD pass.

Despite the comeback that fell short, Schottenheimer was critical of his team and his staff.

"We had too many errors; too many errors on defense, too many errors on offense," Schottenheimer said. "Turnovers certainly hurt us, but we didn't get the job done in any phase of the game and that includes coaching."

But Damon Huard was able to lead a final drive, sending Schottenheimer to 1-4 at Arrowhead Stadium against his former team.

Taking over at his own 18 with 33 seconds left, Huard had completions of 15 yards to running back Larry Johnson and 19 and 18 yards to tight end Tony Gonzalez to move the ball to the San Diego 30.

After having a 47-yard field goal nullified on a false start on tight end Kris Wilson, Tynes sill converted the game-winner. His previous longest kick was 52 yards.

"I was glad to hit one as a warm up (nullified by a penalty)," said Tynes, who missed an extra point in the fourth quarter. "I kind of hesitated as I heard the whistle blow. I thought I'd go ahead and hit and see how it went. I hit good and I knew I was going to make that kick."

Johnson rushed for a season-high 132 yards and two touchdowns for the Chiefs (3-3), who beat the Chargers for the 10th time in the last 13 meetings here.

"Right now we need consistency," Johnson said. "We need to be consistent on a daily basis. As long as we do that we'll be all right. We knew that after our poor performance at Pittsburgh (45-7 loss) we had to come back and do some things different on offense and tighten down our defense."

San Diego (4-2) fell behind Denver (5-1) for first place in the division.

Johnson's second TD, a one-yard run around the right side with 1:32 left in the third quarter gave the Chiefs a 27-13 advantage. The scoring run also capped a 14-play, 89-yard drive that consumed nearly nine minutes.

Philip Rivers threw a 37-yard touchdown to Tomlinson down the right side off a broken coverage less than two minutes into the fourth quarter to pull the Chargers within 27-20.

Tomlinson had six catches for 72 yards. He rushed for 66 yards on 15 attempts. Rivers completed 25-of-43 passes for 266 yards and two TDs with an interception.

Rivers also was harassed by the Chiefs' defense in the first quarter, when he threw an interception and lost a fumble to set up a pair of touchdowns.

"They hurt us; you can't turn it over in this kind of environment and then just count on everything to turn around at the end," Rivers said. "With that being said, we had a chance at the end, came back and tied it up."

Free safety Glen Wesley's interception and 29-yard return set up Huard's 11-yard TD pass to Wilson with 6:21 left in the first quarter.

On the Chargers' ensuing possession, Rivers lost a fumble in his own territory. That miscue led to Huard's 21-yard TD pass to Eddie Kennison with 3:17 left in the first quarter that made it 14-0.

"We were just getting off the ball and we had a will to get it done," said Chiefs defensive end Jared Allen, who had two sacks and forced a fumble. "We knew before the game that we had to get him (Phillip Rivers) and that we had to put pressure on him. That was our goal. We got a couple of coverage sacks because of that."

Huard completed 15-of-27 passes for 232 yards and two TDs.

After Nate Kaeding kicked a 39-yard field goal eight seconds into the second quarter to get the Chargers on the board, Johnson capped a 73-yard drive with an 11-yard TD run. Tynes missed the extra point, leaving the Chiefs with a 20-3 cushion.

Kaeding kicked a 31-yard field goal with under five minutes left in the first half and Rivers found Gates for a one-yard score less than minutes into the third quarter to pull the Chargers within 20-13.

Gates finished with nine catches for 63 yards. Gonzalez, the Chiefs' perennial Pro Bowl tight end, had six receptions for 138 yards.