Carolina Panthers' Ron Rivera defends aggressive approach on drive

One of the many questions Carolina Panthers fans have pondered in the 24 hours since the team's collapse against the Kansas City Chiefs is likely a simple one.

Why did coach Ron Rivera go for the win instead of playing for overtime?

Tied at 17 in the final minute, Kansas City was forced to punt from its own 26-yard line. Ted Ginn Jr. brought his return to the Carolina 33, but a block in the back by David Mayo meant the Panthers had to start the drive at their 20 with no timeouts and just 29 seconds remaining in regulation.

"One thing we knew is they tend to play soft in those types of situations initially because they don't want to give up a big play," Rivera explained Monday. "They want to try to keep you in front of them, and you can get a couple big chunk plays and then who knows? Somebody makes a play and then you're in field goal position.

"The thing that concerned me is (Kansas City) had three timeouts, and our kicker had to be our punter. They have a pretty good return game; we know that, and we saw them break one. So being backed up, the thought was if we can get ourselves in position, who knows?"

With Rivera's foot on the gas, quarterback Cam Newton hit receiver Kelvin Benjamin on a first-down slant. Cornerback Marcus Peters stripped the ball out of Benjamin's hands and moments later, a 37-yard field goal from Cairo Santos dropped the Panthers to 3-6.

--Kansas City was having all sorts of trouble stopping Benjamin on slant routes, but the last one turned out to be one too many.

"It was a single slant route," Benjamin said. "I caught it and the guys were trying to pry it out. I was trying to go to the ground, but they got it out before I got down."

Through his first 115 NFL touches, Benjamin had fumbled just once - against the Chicago Bears in the fifth game of his career.

Officially, catch No. 116 went down as a 14-yard gain. Unofficially, it was an assist of the Chiefs' game-winning field goal.

"I took it from him," Peters said. "You know how you go to the store and you want something and your momma tells you, you can't have it? I took the ball from him. That was it; I just took it from him."

--The Panthers did a fantastic job avoiding turnovers against the NFL's top team in takeaways. Then the fourth quarter happened.

Down 17-6, the Chiefs sent two blitzers untouched through the middle toward Newton.

"I was just trying to give my guy opportunity," Newton said about the ball he lofted in the direction of tight end Greg Olsen.

The problem was Chiefs safety Eric Berry was in a perfect spot to pounce on the pass.

"I got him in a regular season game in high school," said Berry, who grew up in Atlanta near Newton.

Berry turned his easy pick into a highlight-worthy 42-yard touchdown return. A two-point conversion, a field goal and 10 minutes later, Benjamin fumbled.

"It's a matter of protecting the football late in the game," Rivera said. "We turned the ball over twice. You can't do it. If you do that, you don't give yourselves a chance to win. That's the truth of the matter. We have to protect the football. You have to do that."