Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Plays that defined the season: The failed fourth-and-1 in Pittsburgh

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Here is the ninth in a series of 10 plays that shaped the Kansas City Chiefs' 2014 season. We’re going in chronological order, not in order of importance.

The Chiefs were for the most part an excellent team on fourth-and-1 plays in 2014. They converted on their first three tries. Included was a 39-yard touchdown run by Jamaal Charles in the fourth quarter of a November game in Buffalo that ignited a comeback from a 10-point deficit and led to a victory.

The one failure was costly. The price, possibly, was a victory on Dec. 21 against the Steelers in Pittsburgh and a spot in the playoffs.

The Chiefs faced that fateful fourth-and-1 with 27 seconds left in the first half. They trailed the Steelers 10-6 but had the ball on the Pittsburgh 12.

A field goal attempt seemed in order. A successful 30-yard would have cut their deficit to 10-9 and the Chiefs were also set to receive the second half kickoff, so they could have then taken the lead with another three-pointer.

But coach Andy Reid decided to try for the first down instead. The Chiefs gave the ball to Charles, but nobody blocked linebacker Lawrence Timmons, who made first contact with Charles. Timmons' teammates arrived quickly and prevented Charles from gaining the necessary yard.

"You want as many points as you can get,'' Reid said after the game. "You do. You want to stay aggressive. That’s what we do. When you’ve got that type of distance there, you go get it. There’s a certain mindset here that we’ve been working with here the whole season, training camp included. When you’re put in that situation, you strap it on and go get the thing.''

The failure to come away with any points on that drive doomed the Chiefs. They went on a drive late in the fourth quarter deep into Pittsburgh territory but they trailed at the time 20-9 instead of, at worst, 20-12. They would have been playing for the tie at that point had they kicked a field goal late in the first half or playing for the win had they scored an earlier touchdown.

So the Chiefs lost 20-12 and at that point their whether the team would make the playoffs was suddenly out their control. They would need help on the final weekend of the regular season to reach the postseason but that help didn't come.

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