The Chiefs’ offensive line played well — seriously

A winning locker room is smiles. It’s been a while. A few old friends are in here, laughing with some of the men who play for the Chiefs. That’s different. The rhythm of a losing locker room is deliberate, melancholy, a week’s worth of hard work and confidence chewed through and digested by the better team on the other side.

Nobody felt that more than the biggest men on the team, the offensive linemen who for most of this disappointing season simply have not been good enough. They have been overmatched, outperformed and in a particularly frustrating trend often beat on simple stunts.

All of that changed, for at least one day, a new lineup of blockers helping lead the Chiefs to a 23-13 win over the Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday. Exhale. Smile. Cherish.

This is their first win in 42 days. Their first win at home all year. Their first two home games included two brutal losses, blown 14-point leads and a season-ending injury to their best playmaker. For perhaps the first time all season, the Chiefs won the line of scrimmage.

The Chiefs did not save their season against the Steelers. It is almost certainly too late for that. But they did get off the mat, finally, and they did it behind a solid if not strong performance by what had been — along with quarterback Alex Smith, it must be said, even after he played well against Pittsburgh — the team’s weakest link.

“All thanks to (the line) and God,” said Charcandrick West, who rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown. “They did amazing.”

West is the right guy to talk about this, too. A week ago, he fumbled away the Chiefs’ best chance of beating the Vikings. It was a freak play, and one that perfectly symbolized a fading season — left tackle Donald Stephenson was beaten completely and immediately, and in trying to recover, accidentally knocked the ball out of West’s left arm.

West took full responsibility for the play, whether he deserved it or not, and the line paid him back by clearing the way for the best day of his professional career. Wasn’t just the statistics, either.

In the third quarter, West ran up the middle for 11 yards. After the play, a Steelers player — looked like William Gay — seemed to be, well, manipulating West’s leg.

“That’s what I saw,” said lineman Eric Fisher. “I saw his knee getting bent over, so I guess if they want to play after the whistle, we gotta play after the whistle, too. Just trying to stick up for my guy. He’s not that big, so...”

Fisher smiled. As we said, a very different locker room. Coincidence or not, a very different line, too.

Stephenson had started each of the Chiefs’ first six games at left tackle. Coach Andy Reid made that decision late, just before the season opener, and the logic made enough sense — Stephenson is much more effective on the left side, and Fisher is versatile enough to play either.

Stephenson played fairly well in the season-opening win at Houston but regressed since. It’s interesting that the coaching staff did not give him much of a chance to play after his four-game suspension last year, even as the line crumbled. Perhaps they saw some bad old habits returning.

Whatever the case, the Chiefs made a major change here. Fisher flipped to the left side, left guard Ben Grubbs and center Mitch Morse stayed in their spots, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif started at right guard and Jeff Allen at right tackle.

“I could’ve told you this was going to go this way on Friday,” Morse said. “We had an unbelievable week of practice, man. Just competitive, tough, physical.”

That was the theme, among all the linemen. Maybe it’s interesting or maybe this is overthinking it, but more than anything else, they talked of playing with energy, and of better communication. Maybe benching Stephenson and Zach Fulton was the fix.

“Those guys had a tall task, there had to be a lot of communication,” Smith said.

“I think we played like a passionate group of men out there,” Duvernay-Tardif said.

“You kind of know when you start picking up some of those blitzes and making those plays,” Allen said. “But when the game goes on, you start to become more physical, and you kind of feel the defense slowing down. That’s when you really know.”

Let’s be clear. The Chiefs did nothing more than win one game. The Steelers started their third-string quarterback and have an undistinguished defense. They sacked Smith twice. Nobody is confusing this for Willie Roaf, Will Shields and Brian Waters blasting open holes.

It would surprise nobody if the Chiefs lost to the Lions in London next week, and then after the bye play at Denver. The thing is still broken, and the focus is still in figuring out who should be around next year and who should not.

But this is positive. This is improvement. The Chiefs haven’t had much of either this year. Especially from their blockers.

This story was originally published October 25, 2015 at 6:00 PM with the headline "The Chiefs’ offensive line played well — seriously."