Winless no more!
Your Kansas City Arrowheads made the impossible possible tonight, grinding out a 13-10 road victory over Minnesota to bask in the glow of the season's first win. In a microcosm, the game was everything Kansas City's first five contests of the year were not.
Consider this -- the KC ground game, which struggled to just 330 rushing yards in its first five games, uncorked a 188-yard performance against Minnesota. The front seven, carved like a Thanksgiving turkey for three consecutive weeks, surrendered just 96 yards on the ground and 216 overall yards. Kicker Karl Barb, mired in a 1-for-6 kicking streak, connected true on two attempts and narrowly missed adding a 56-yard effort.
Evidence that this was going to be an abnormal night came early. Chester Singleton hooked up with Daniel Pearson for 57 yards on the second play of the game to move the ball deep into Minnesota territory. Two plays later, Earl Belote burst into the endzone from six yards out, only to have the play nullified on a holding penalty and KC settled for an easy field goal instead.
KC was back in business on its next possession. Mark Prendergast broke off the Arrowheads' longest run of the season -- 27 yards -- to work the ball into Minnesota territory. Singleton's first interception of the season shut down the drive in the red zone. KC's next possession also came to an end via turnover as Joseph "The Undrafted" Altman coughed up the football near midfield.
It didn't matter though. Kansas City's defense proved up to the task throughout the first half, holding Minnesota to a measly 46 yards of offense, half of which came on the team's final possession of the half. It was finally that defense that helped the Arrowheads extend their lead as Jerry Daniel's interception set up Barb's second field goal of the night, providing KC with a 6-0 halftime lead.
The Vikings immediately halved that margin in the second half thanks to FIlberto Forester's 55-yard boot. From there, things settled in to a field position battle as fans got the sense that one big break would deliver the game in either direction. For once this season, KC came up with that break as Timothy Shaw came up with a fourth quarter pick at the Minnesota 34. A handful of plays later, Singleton connected with Prendergast from 18 yards out and Kansas City fans, after a couple near misses, began to wonder if this victory thing might really be possible.
Prendergast was definitely the hero of the night for Kansas City, finishing with 163 combined rushing and receiving yards. That was more than half of the team's offensive total.
Minnesota tried to make life interesting. The Vikings executed the 2-minute drill to score a touchdown with 36 seconds remaining and increase a few pulse rates throughout the heartland. Benjamin Gore fell on the ensuing onside kick however, ending Kansas City's frustrations.
For all the happiness in the locker room, lets make no mistake about it. This certainly wasn't a pretty game for large chunks of it, but the end result was absolutely beautiful. Raise your glasses Kansas City fans and give a toast to victory.
Kansas City continues its epic 4-game road trip with a swing to Florida to face Jacksonville. Vegas is calling the Jags 14-point favorites, but who cares. We just won a game -- we're going to DIsneyworld!