Chiefs special teams blunders prove costly in Alex Smith’s return to San Francisco

The much-ballyhooed homecoming for Alex Smith came down to a pair of special-teams blunders.

Smith appeared to have gotten the best of the Colin Kaepernick, the man who replaced him during the 49ers drive to the Super Bowl in 2012.

But instead, the Chiefs’ first visit to $1.2 billion Levi’s Stadium ended in a 22-17 loss, largely because of a fake punt by the 49ers and Kansas City’s having 12 men on the field before a 54-yard field goal attempt by San Francisco.

“They got us,” lamented Chiefs coach Andy Reid of the fake punt. “Against this team, you’ve got to be ready for all that stuff.”

The Chiefs, protecting a one-point lead early in the fourth quarter, stopped the 49ers on a third-and-one when Tamba Hali stopped Frank Gore for no gain at the San Francisco 29.

But the 49ers caught the Chiefs by surprise with a fake punt that helped produce Phil Dawson’s fourth of five field goals, and gave them a 19-17 lead and a whole lot of momentum with 8:42 left in the fourth quarter.

The snap on the punt went to blocking back Craig Dahl, who burrowed his way for the first down.

“I had played quarterback, option quarterback, so I had run the ball in high school and been on teams where we had plenty of fakes before,” said Dahl, an eight-year veteran from North Dakota State.

“They showed a light box, and no one was in the right A gap. Kyle (Nelson) made a great snap to me, and I just put my head down and went for one yard.”

Instead, he got three yards.

“It was a good play call,” defensive back Phillip Gaines, who is on the punt return team. “They were down in their own territory … but even when they call something, we have to figure out a way to get him down, but we didn’t.”

Three plays later, the Chiefs put San Francisco in another third down, this time third-and-10 from the 32. Kaepernick went deep and hung the ball up for Brandon Lloyd, the former Blue Springs standout, who leaped high and snatched the ball from cornerback Sean Smith for a 38-yard gain.

“He made a good play,” said Smith. “I don’t have a word to describe it. We went up and he came down with it.”

Lloyd, who at 6-foot, is three inches shorter than Smith, has made an 11-year career out of making spectacular catches.

“That was just more of an in-the-game, instinctual kind of play as opposed to something that we’ve practiced,” Lloyd said. “I always like to think of those lobs, whether they’re in the red zone or in the field as football’s version of the alley-oop.

“It’s the quarterback understanding the ability of the pass catcher and putting the ball in position where the guy can make the play. It was … Colin throwing the ball to where I could catch it, and the defensive back couldn’t make the play.”

Trailing 19-17, the Chiefs appeared to be in position for a go-ahead score when they forced the 49ers to settle for a 54-yard field goal attempt with 4:19 left in the game.

But, inexplicably, they were called for having 12 men on the field, and the 49ers maintained possession that ended with 30-yard field goal by Dawson with 2:12 to play, making it 22-17 and forcing the Chiefs to score a touchdown to win.

“I need to make sure that I count the guys,” Reid said, “make sure down the stretch that everybody knows exactly what they’re doing out there and they do it.”

The Chiefs didn’t come close to threatening again as Alex Smith threw an interception on the Chiefs’ second play of the final drive.

That ensured that the Chiefs dropped to 2-3 for the season, while the 49ers improved to 3-2 under the embattled Jim Harbaugh.

The Chiefs, a distant third in the AFC West, will take this week off and try to enjoy their bye week before they travel to division-leading San Diego, 4-1.

Considering that Kansas City has played a brutal schedule that included games against Denver, New England, San Francisco — all of whom played in AFC and NFC Championship Games last year — and endured a siege of injuries, including a season-ending ruptured Achilles’ to Pro Bowl linebacker Derrick Johnson and an ankle sprain that has limited Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry to one game, the Chiefs aren’t panicking.

“We never use the schedule as an excuse, because we view ourselves as a good team,” Sean Smith said. “It’s not like we’re looking at hard teams or easy teams. The NFL is not like that. We’ve made some strides, but we’ve messed up some things.

“We’re at the bye, and it’s a chance to get healthy and evaluate ourselves as a whole and as individuals.”

Reid, who is 13-2 in games after the bye, including last year’s loss at Denver following a 9-0 start, will give the team this week off before getting ready for San Diego.

“There’s a lot of football to be played, and I think our team’s confidence is at an all-time high,” linebacker Frank Zombo said. “I think we feel more confident in ourselves this year than we did last year. It may not show in the win-loss column, but we’ll come back for sure.”

This story was originally published October 5, 2014 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Chiefs special teams blunders prove costly in Alex Smith’s return to San Francisco."