Chiefs defeat San Diego, prepare for Denver

The Chiefs won another close one this past Sunday, defeating the San Diego Chargers 28-24.

Once again, the Chiefs allowed another team to gain a lot of yards against their defense, which once again raised questions about the capabilities of their defense to help them win games, especially come playoff time.

Kansas City has some tough games coming up against teams who can generate a lot of offense (Denver and Minnesota) and their defense needs to tighten up if they expect to win those games.

The Chief's pass defense isn't really too bad, however their run defense seems to be the problem. This became evident after running backs from Cincinnati, Oakland, and now San Diego pretty much had their way with them.

The problem, as always, starts up front with the defensive line and linebackers. They have to make those plays at the front and stop those backs within the first two or three yards of the line of scrimmage.

The Chiefs are not making tackles at the line and have allowed these backs to make it into what appears to be a slow secondary that seems to get burned on big plays.

LaDaninan Tomlinson ran for 106 yards on the day, which wasn't that much by most standards, but still showed the weakness of the Kansas City run defense.

The pass rush wasn't running on all cylinders as well during this game, but they did manage to keep a pretty tight lid on Doug Flutie as well as on the Charger's receiving group.

What really helps the Chiefs win games is their high-powered offense and this game was no exception.

Led by Trent Green, Priest Holmes and Tony Gonzalez, the Chiefs offense gained 335 yards for the game (contrast that the 370 yards that the Chargers gained in the contest).

Priest Holmes gained a whopping 162 yards on the day and also scored two touchdowns.

Coming into the game, Holmes was tied with Marcus Allen for the Chief's all-time leader in touchdowns. He broke the record with his first touchdown in this game, a record that he surely will be adding to for many years to come.

Another star in this game was tight end Tony Gonzalez, who caught two touchdown passes from Green.

Green had a somewhat mediocre day, throwing for just 155 yards, but it was still enough to get them another win and improve their record to 11-1 and a perfect 5-0 in their division.

Next up, the Chiefs travel to Denver to play the Broncos, a team they have had some trouble beating in the past.

Back in Week 5, the Chiefs barely escaped with a 24-23 win at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Broncos, coming off a resounding win against the Oakland Raiders this Sunday, are playing pretty good football right now and have several reasons to play well and win against the Chiefs this coming Sunday.

The first concerns the playoff picture, as the Broncos are still in the hunt, along with the Chiefs, for the division title.

A win against KC, plus a perfect November for the Broncos, in addition to losses in each of Kansas City's last four games, will give them the title.

It sounds pretty unlikely but then again, stranger things have happened.

Once again, the Chiefs will face Clinton Portis, another dangerous running back that can do a lot of damage if he isn't kept contained.

In their first meeting with the Broncos, the Chiefs allowed Portis to run for 141 yards.

In fact, the Broncos would have won that game had it not been for a Dante Hall kick return in the closing minutes of the game.

Keys to this week's game...

One of the most important, keys to the game for the Chiefs is to not allow Portis to run wild against their defense.

Lately, they haven't been able to stop the running game and this is something that they absolutely have to do against Denver in order to win.

The defensive line has to stop Portis at the line of scrimmage and cannot let him get out into the secondary where he can do the most damage.

In addition, the linebackers need to come up and play better run defense to help keep containment, as well as cover the outside so that Portis can't break into the secondary.

Speaking of the secondary, the Chief's safeties and cornerbacks need to be more aware of the run and may need to play a little closer to the line when a running situation is read or when the situation calls for it.

However, they also need to be aware of the play action pass and protect against thatt.

The Chief's defense also needs to keep a tight lid on quarterback Jake Plummer, who can make plays with both his legs and his arm.

The defensive line needs to help keep containment on Plummer. They need to set their outside linebackers to keep an eye on him and not let him get outside of the pocket or turn up the field and run with the ball.

They also have to apply pressure on him because he doesn't perform too well under pressure.

The Chiefs offense needs to put some points up on the board early in this game and give them a comfortable lead.

They may have to rely on the passing game to accomplish this goal, as the Denver run defense is tough, having allowed just 94.3 yards per game though their game against Oakland this past Sunday.

The Chiefs, who rely on Holmes and the running game to help them win games, may have to resort to the passing game, which also has been very effective.

However, in order to keep the ball out of the hands of the Broncos offense, the Chiefs will have to try to establish some kind of running game.

Providing their defense holds up against the Bronco's running attack and Plummer, the Chiefs should come out of this one with a victory, but it's going to be another close game.

Hopefully, the Chiefs will be able to establish a running game to help control the clock. If they can't, it could be a long day.