KANSAS CITY, Mo., Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers handed Kansas City its third home loss of the young season Sunday, 20-17, on an afternoon that featured a scary incident when a fan fell from the third deck at Arrowhead Stadium.
Kansas City has lost its first three games at home for the first time in 21 years.
With a little over a minute to play in the opening half, a Chiefs' season-ticket holder tumbled from the eighth row of the upper tier onto the first level. Five other fans were injured in the lower deck and all were taken to a local hospital.
All the fans were fully conscious following the incident, however, and none of the injuries were considered life-threatening.
The individual who fell actually struck people and seats on the Club level before continuing the fall. According to Gene Barr, the Chiefs director of security, the man said he reached over the pick up something that had dropped and "blacked out."
Moments later, the Steelers went to the locker room with a 6-2 lead behind second-quarter field goals of 42 and 55 yards by Kris Brown. Pittsburgh put the contest away with two touchdowns in the third period.
"It was a big win," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "This is a hard place to play."
The Chiefs fell to 1-4 under new coach Dick Vermeil. When they began 0-3 at Arrowhead in 1980, the coach was Hall-of-Famer Marv Levy.
"We made progress in the running game but no apparent progress in the passing game," Vermeil said. "It's disappointing. We knew going in that it would be a little bit on the tough side. They challenged us, every ball that was thrown. That's the credit to their defense."
Trent Green was inconsistent throughout the game for Kansas City, completing just 16 of 33 passes for a meager 127 yards. Priest Holmes attempted to pick up the slack, totaling 150 yards and a pair of scores on 20 carries.
However, both of Holmes' scores of 26 yards and one yard came in the final quarter after Pittsburgh had put the game out of reach.
"I don't know what the answer is other than to keep coming back and working harder," Green said. "Just continue to work and practice that much harder, try to get guys healthy, understand the offense better. At some point in time it's going to click."
The Chiefs appeared to be on the move after receiving the opening kickoff of the second half, gaining a combined 26 yards on their first three plays and advancing to the Pittsburgh 47-yard line.
However, cornerback Chad Scott then stepped in front of a pass by Green and raced 61 yards the other way to give the Steelers a 13-2 lead just 2:15 into the third quarter.
"They rolled coverage to the weak side and I had one-one-on with the corner off on a 10-yard out route," Green said. "I don't know if I was hit as I was throwing it or as I was releasing it or whatever."
Kansas City had two straight empty possessions around a stalled Pittsburgh drive before the Steelers put together their best scoring march of the afternoon, moving 68 yards in seven plays for a touchdown.
Jerome Bettis, who carried 19 times for 112 yards, scampered 16 yards to midfield and, on a 3rd-and-6, Stewart hit running back Amos Zereoue for 10 yards. Bettis followed with a 30-yard burst inside the Kansas City 10.
"The guys just did a tremendous job of blocking today," Bettis said. "I just had a lot of holes and that helped me out a lot."
"It (the success in the running game) was going to be a case of being persistent and keeping the game close," Cowher said. "We still have a ways to go, we certainly have to be more efficient."
With 52 seconds left in the quarter, Stewart hit Hines Ward from five yards out and the Steelers had a commanding 20-2 advantage.
Stewart was 15 of 25 for 141 yards for Pittsburgh, which has won three straight since its Week 1 loss to Jacksonville.
Kansas City tight end Tony Gonzalez caught a game-high five passes for 46 yards.
"We didn't make the plays when we had the opportunities," Chiefs wide receiver Derrick Alexander said. "We dropped a couple of passes for first downs and that killed the drive every time."
This marked the seventh consecutive time the Chiefs have hosted Pittsburgh since 1992. The Steelers hold a 4-3 advantage in those games and hold a 16-8 edge in the all-time series.
"No moral victories," Vermeil added. "Yes, we came back. Big deal, we still got beat."
