KANSAS CITY, Mo., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Priest Holmes ran for 113 yards and two touchdowns Sunday as the Kansas City Chiefs opened a 35-point lead at halftime and handed the Arizona Cardinals their sixth straight defeat, 49-0.
Dante Hall added the longest punt return in franchise history for the Chiefs (6-6), who posted their second-largest margin of victory, topped only by a 59-7 win over Denver on Sept. 7, 1963. The easy win helped sooth the pain of a 39-32 loss to Seattle last week.
"I'm very pleased and very happy with my squad, my coaches and the organization," Coach Dick Vermeil said. "Last week was a very disappointing week and I think they responded well and everything went our way. We recognized we're not that good, or Arizona that bad.
"It was just one of those days."
The Cardinals (4-8) yielded their highest point total since a 49-24 loss to Green Bay in 1999.
The Cardinals, who also have called Chicago and St. Louis home, were founded in 1898, but records have been kept only since 1920. The worst loss since then was a 53-7 setback to the Chicago Bears in 1941.
"Anytime you got a one-sided loss like that, it has to go directly to the head coach and that's exactly what I told my players," Arizona Coach Dave McGinnis said. "Regardless of what we did or didn't do on the football field, it all comes back to the head coach."
Arizona's Jake Plummer completed 14 of 31 passes for 88 yards and was intercepted three times.
The Cardinals were outgained, 477-122, and had just 10 first downs.
"As a defense you usually look for something to hand your hat on, but today we don't even have that," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "They beat every look they threw our way. Basically they were able to pad their stats and for us that's just very disappointing."
Holmes, who carried 16 times, opened the scoring with a five-yard touchdown run, capping an eight-play, 77-yard drive that included a 23-yard pass from Trent Green to Eddie Kennison.
Hall capped the opening quarter by bursting up the middle for a 90-yard punt return, topping the mark of 88 yards set by J.T. Smith against Oakland in 1979.
Holmes caught a 21-yard pass from Green early in the second quarter, setting up a three-yard touchdown run by Tony Richardson. Holmes, who caught three passes for 56 yards, has scored 22 touchdowns this season, four short of the NFL record set by Marshall Faulk of St. Louis in 2000.
A two-yard touchdown run by Holmes with 74 seconds left in the first half increased the lead to 28-0 and completed a drive that included a 29-yard pass from Green to tight end Tony Gonzalez.
Green completed 14 of 20 passes for 209 yards.
"It's been a long time since we had a win like that," Green said. "We needed it. Our offense, defense and special teams all played great."
The Cardinals could not even run out the clock as Ray Crockett intercepted a pass from Plummer near midfield. Green soon followed with a 23-yard scoring strike to Gonzalez that made it 35-0 at halftime.
Kennison had a 31-yard run in the third quarter, leading to a one-yard touchdown pass from Green to Marc Boerigter.
Boerigter caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from backup Todd Collins in the fourth quarter. After the game, Vermeil apologized, saying a pass play should not have been called in the lopsided game.
Arizona lost guard Pete Kendall to a sprained knee in the first half.
