There were no rallies and no big plays by the Pittsburgh Steelers this time.
The Steelers, who came from behind in five games this year and won five straight, lost to Kansas City 13-10 on Monday as Chiefs quarterbacks made the big running plays and running back Marcus Allen made a big passing play.The Steelers (6-3), who had never lost in seven previous regular-season games at Arrowhead Stadium, were taken by surprise when Allen connected with Danan Hughes for a 14-yard touchdown with 1:40 left in the first half. That made the score 13-10 and turned out to be the end of scoring. It was the fifth touchdown pass by Allen, the NFL career leader with 117 rushing touchdowns. He passed for a score for the first time since Nov. 10, 1991 against Denver.
"It was just the right time in the game to call it," Allen said. "We called one last year, but it was unsuccessful. Actually, we've been practicing that play a little farther out on the field. I was a little surprised they called it that close to the goal line."
Hughes slipped behind the Pittsburgh secondary and was wide open against zone coverage.
"We just have to be smarter," Steelers safety Darren Perry said. "We knew he was capable of that. We knew they were going to try a trick play on us because that's the way people try to slow us down."
Pittsburgh took a 10-0 lead, but Pete Stoyanovich kicked field goals of 35 and 44 yards in the second quarter before Allen's touchdown pass. Kansas City (7-2) rushed for 183 yards against a Steelers defense that had limited opponents to an average of 65.9 yards a game, second in the NFL.
Seven Chiefs players rushed 42 times, with quarterback Elvis Grbac gaining 35 yards on four carries before he was hurt and backup Rich Gannon getting 10 yards on four carries. Allen led the Chiefs with 49 yards on 10 carries.
Kansas City held the ball for 361/2 minutes, and the defense limited the Steelers to 12 first downs, consistently stopping them on third down.
Jerome Bettis rushed for 103 yards on 17 carries for the Steelers, but Kordell Stewart had just 24 yards on three carries and was 11-of-21 passing for 101 yards.
"After we scored 10 points, it seemed like there was a big yield sign up," Stewart said. "You try to make things happen,and when they don't happen, you go out and try to make it happen on the next play. We just didn't get it going."
Pittsburgh finished with 142 yards rushing and 235 yards total offense, down from its average of 162.9 yards rushing per game and 347.9 yards total offense.