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KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The excitement was obvious based on the noise coming out of the Kansas City Chiefs' locker room after they overcame a 21-point deficit to beat San Diego in overtime on Sunday in their regular-season opener. But there was also the realization among coaches and players that the exhilaration of the afternoon masked another issue: How did a potential AFC West champion, playing at home, allow itself to fall 21 points behind a division rival coming off a 4-12 season?
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It left the Chiefs with plenty to work on in the coming week leading up to a Sunday visit to Houston to play the Texans. Down 18 points at halftime and behind by 21 points with 24 minutes to play, the Chiefs scored 30 points, including 23 straight to grab the 33-27 victory.
"Certainly some things in the second half went our way, we were able to get out of here with a 'W' but as great as it is to win, there's going to be a lot to learn from, a lot to improve on," said quarterback Alex Smith. "You can't start out that bad, you can't play that bad in the first half all the way around, every single phase."
The statistics tell the story. The numbers for the first three quarters and the Chiefs production in the fourth quarter are quite different:
First three quarters: The Chiefs scored 10 points, produced 176 offensive yards, allowed 339 yards and gave up 24 points.
Fourth quarter: The Chiefs scored 23 points, produced 167 offensive yards, allowed 49 yards and gave up three points.
The ways Chiefs head coach Andy Reid sees it, there's plenty his team can learn from both situations.
"It's one out of 16, so it is, but as long as you can build on it, you can't take the other side and lay back on it and say 'Hey listen we can always come back.' You can't do that," Reid said. "You have to learn from that first half on what took place and why and build on the second half, understand that you need to take it up a notch as you go on here and everybody kind of settles down in the NFL. These teams settle down, you're not going to be able to get away with that."
One thing the Chiefs' comeback re-established was the strong football character Reid's team carried into the opener, a by-product of last year's 10-game winning streak after starting the schedule losing five of the first six.
"You're going to have games like this that you have to rely on your character, your grit and all those things," said the head coach. "You're going to have those throughout the season. You have to bank on those things that you've built in your training camp, OTAs and all that hard work. The guys did that. I'm proud of the way that they handled it. No one hung their head. They had confidence in each other, and I think it showed."
The outcome of the season's first game does not guarantee anything but a 1-0 start. But it drives home the point that good teams can overcome poor starts, whether it's a season, or a single game.
"These are long games, they're not won or lost early," said Smith. "You've got to keep making adjustments and keep battling. So many games come down to the fourth quarter like that, in overtime today."
--Last year, Spencer Ware was an unknown off the practice squad who joined the Chiefs offense after the season-ending knee injury suffered by starting running back Jamaal Charles. Less than a year later, few folks around Arrowhead Stadium are surprised by anything Ware can do on the field.
Ware finished the Chiefs' overtime victory against San Diego in the season opener as the club's leading rusher and receiver, with 199 offensive yards on 18 touches. His performance as a receiver with seven catches for 129 yards were career-high numbers.
"I don't think anyone is surprised at all," said quarterback Alex Smith. "I think the guy is an extremely talented player. I think he's confident in his ability, especially in the pass game. He really got us going in the pass game. They were focusing a lot of attention on different guys, and he was able to continually win one-on-one."
--The NFL saw all sorts of actions surrounding the national anthem during the opening weekend of the 2016 regular season. Chiefs players were among those who tried to show solidarity with the ideas professed by San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick over the last few weeks. During the anthem, the Chiefs locked arms as they stood on the sidelines. Then, near the end of the anthem, cornerback Marcus Peters raised a black-gloved fist in a show of support.
"I was just stating how I'm black, I love being black and I support Colin and what he's doing as far as raising awareness with the justice system," said Peters. "I didn't mean anything bad by it. I locked arms with my teammates, I talked to Coach (Reid) about it and he said it was OK if I wanted to express my thoughts."
