Chiefs 20, Panthers 17 (somehow): Insta-reaction!

If you are so inclined, repeat after me:

When Alex Smith missed open receivers on consecutive plays in the third quarter, I, (state your name), did not think there was even a small chance in the worst part of hell that the Chiefs would beat the Panthers 20-17 here on Sunday.

There are win probability formulas I could look up that would help tell how unlikely this was when the Chiefs trailed 17-3, but I think those formulas would understate reality, because they would not take into account that the Panthers are one of the league's best front-running teams.

Eric Berry made the most spectacular play, Marcus Peters made the clutch-y-est play, Dee Ford was great again, and Alex Smith showed up to join his teammates.

The Chiefs won ugly, playing poorly for most of this, and beat a very good team on the road. I'd have more to say, but I just control-A deleted a bunch of words about how the Chiefs can't play like this and deserved to lose, and I hope you all will do me the solid of pretending I knew this is how this game would end all along.

Gotta get downstairs to try to figure out what the hell just happened here. Talk to you guys again soon, with either an Alex Smith or Marcus Peters column.

▪ Eric Berry's pick-six was a spectacular play. The pick was good enough. A terrific read of the quarterback, a confident break on the ball, the timing and ball skills to make a clean grab. Then, the six was tremendous, as well. At least by my count, he either juked or outran at least six, and perhaps eight tacklers, including two spin moves. It looked to me that he was burned on an early run by Cam Newton in the first quarter, but really, other than that he played a great game.

▪ Alex Smith was bad. Very bad. It's natural to wonder if any of this had to do with the injury that definitely, absolutely, with 100 percent certainty was not a concussion, but it's not like Smith hasn't mixed in some dog games before. Do you remember Pittsburgh?

To be completely fair to Smith, he wasn't helped by his line, or his receivers (or Carolina's front seven), but he just wasn't good enough. The Chiefs don't need him to be great, but they can't have him be bad, at least not against good teams. The drive early in the fourth quarter that stalled out into a field goal after Smith missed wide open receivers on consecutive plays was symbolic.

▪ There was a drive in the second quarter that stalled after Travis Kelce and another receiver dropped what should've been easy catches, each of which would've been for chunk gains.

▪ Dee Ford played another really nice game. He beat his man regularly, had one sack called back on a penalty, and at least on first watch was more of a factor in the run game than any game I can think of this year — which, really, means any game I can think of this season.

▪ This was the most I can remember a quarterback throwing at Marcus Peters this year. Teams weren't avoiding him until the last three games or so, but they weren't exactly seeking him out, either, and Newton just did not care who the cornerback was. Peters held up OK. He had the holding penalty, and was flat beat by Funchess on that touchdown, but he made some plays, too.

Speaking of Newton, the pick-six was a horrendous decision and throw. Sorensen came up in the middle on a blitz, and Newton just blind lobbed it off his back foot. He's an incredible player, and was probably the best man on the field Sunday, but that deserved to be an interception.

This story was originally published November 13, 2016 at 3:19 PM with the headline "Chiefs 20, Panthers 17 (somehow): Insta-reaction!."