The National Football League informed the Chiefs on Wednesday that K Ryan Succop has been named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in Week 15 of the 2011 NFL regular season. The award is Succop’s second Special Teams Player of the Week accolade in 2011.

Succop (6-2, 218) was four-for-four on field goal attempts with a PAT, tallying 13 points en route to a 19-14 victory vs. the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers (12/18) at Arrowhead Stadium. The South Carolina product has been successful on 21 consecutive field goal attempts, tying him with K Nick Lowery for the second-longest streak in club history. Succop is one field goal shy of tying K Pete Stoyanovich’s all-time team record of 22 straight makes. He currently holds the NFL’s longest active streak for consecutive field goals made.

Succop’s first Special Teams Player of the Week honor came in Week 4 of the regular season when the Chiefs defeated Minnesota 22-17 at Arrowhead Stadium (10/2). Kansas City’s placekicker was five-for-five on field goal attempts with a PAT, tallying a career-high 16 points. Succop connected on a career-long 54-yard field goal in the victory and his five field goals tied the club’s record for most field goals in a single game, joining Pro Football Hall of Fame K Jan Stenerud and K Nick Lowery.

Selected as the final pick in the 2009 NFL Draft (256th overall), Succop has connected on 67 of 80 career field goal attempts (.838) and has successfully hit on 89 of 89 PATs for 290 points in 46 games with the club.

— Chiefs Media Relations —

Mike McCarthy never put a whole lot of stock in a perfect season, except as a means of gaining home-field advantage and setting the Green Bay Packers up for another Super Bowl run.

Well, they still have a chance to earn home-field advantage.

The perfect season? That’s history.

Kyle Orton threw for 299 yards to outduel Aaron Rodgers, and the Kansas City Chiefs rallied behind interim coach Romeo Crennel for a shocking 19-14 victory on Sunday that ended the Packers’ 19-game winning streak. It was their first loss since Dec. 19, 2010, at New England.

“I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy,” McCarthy said. “The goal was to get home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That’s what we discussed.

“We were fortunate enough to be in the position to possibly achieve the undefeated season,” he added, “but we still have the primary goal in front of us, and that’s to get home-field advantage.”

Green Bay, playing without leading receiver Greg Jennings and top rusher James Starks because of injuries, can wrap up the No. 1 seed in their final two games against Chicago and Detroit. But the Packers no longer have the pressure of becoming the second team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with a perfect record, or extending the second-longest winning streak in league history.

“I think our goal ultimate goal is to win a Super Bowl. The next step is getting that number one seed in the playoffs,” Rodgers said. “We’ve got a home playoff game — we’ve got a bye secured.”

Rodgers was 17 of 35 for 235 yards and a touchdown, and he also scampered 8 yards for another touchdown with 2:12 left in the game. But the Packers (13-1) were unable to recover the onside kick, and Kansas City picked up a couple of first downs to secure the victory.

“They had a good game plan,” Rodgers said. “You have to give them credit.”

Ryan Succop kicked four field goals for Kansas City (6-8), which had lost five of its last six games and fired coach Todd Haley last Monday. Jackie Battle added a short touchdown plunge with 4:53 left in the game, points that came in handy when Rodgers led one last scoring drive.

“Everybody had marked it off as a win for the Packers, but those guys in the locker room, they’re football players,” Crennel said. “They decided they were not going to lay down, they were not going to give up, so they went out and played a tremendous game.”

Neither team looked all that tremendous in the first half.

Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson was hit twice with offensive pass interference, Rodgers was harassed by the Chiefs’ weak pass rush, and Green Bay wound up making five first downs.

One of them came when Kansas City’s Jeremy Horne ran into Packers punter Tim Masthay, giving them 15 free yards. The Chiefs tried to give Green Bay another gift later on the drive when Mason Crosby missed a 59-yard field goal attempt but Kansas City had 12 men on the field.

With another chance from 54 yards, the normally reliable Crosby still pushed the kick right.

Rodgers finished the half 6 of 17 for 59 yards, with a handful of drops between wide receiver Donald Driver and tight end Jermichael Finley. In fact, things were going so badly for Green Bay that at one point it ran out of the wildcat despite having one of the best quarterbacks in the game.

The Chiefs were still clinging to a 6-0 lead when Rodgers finally hit downfield, finding Finley over top of `the coverage for a 41-yard gain. Three plays later, the Packers’ star quarterback hit Driver in the corner of the end zone for a 7-6 lead with 8:04 left in the third quarter.

Kansas City answered when Orton hit his own tight end, Leonard Pope, for a career-long 38-yard catch. Jon Baldwin added a 17-yard grab to set up Succop’s 46-yard, go-ahead field goal.

The Packers moved into field-goal range on their ensuing drive, but rather than have Crosby attempt a 56-yard kick in the same direction he had already missed, McCarthy elected to go for it on fourth-and-9. Rodgers’ pass fell incomplete and the Chiefs took over.

They needed seven plays to cover 59 yards, but had to settle for another field goal and a 12-7 lead. It was the third time the Chiefs drove inside the 5 and had six total points to show for it.

They got seven on their next trip, though.

With first-and-goal at the 5, Thomas Jones managed to gain a yard and Le’Ron McClain bulled ahead for three more, setting up third down from just outside the goal line. Battle took the carry over the right side and powered into the end zone, giving the woeful Kansas City offense its highest-scoring game since the Chiefs beat San Diego in overtime in late October.

The Packers marched down the field in the closing minutes, and Rodgers showed his moxie by scampering around the end for a touchdown that made it 19-14, but that was as close as they got.

Green Bay came into the game averaging nearly 36 points, but was held to its lowest total since beating the Chicago Bears 10-3 in Week 17 last year. The Packers needed to win that game to make the playoffs, and wound up riding the momentum to a Super Bowl victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

All that momentum finally came to an end against the most unlikely of scenarios.

“We set the tone on both sides of the ball,” Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said. “This is the great thing about football. You can’t always look at the records, because you’ve got grown men out there who are all getting paid. You don’t have to be better on paper.

“If you’re better on that given Sunday, you’ll get the win.”

— Associated Press —

Mark Sanchez jogged onto the field for the first play of the game and immediately had to call an embarrassing timeout.

It was just about the only thing that stopped the New York Jets all afternoon.

Sanchez became the first Jets quarterback to throw two touchdown passes and run for two more scores as New York got off to a fast start and improved its positioning in the AFC playoff race by cruising to a 37-10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

“I was happy we had another opening-drive touchdown,” Sanchez said. “It set the tone early, and we converted on some big third downs and didn’t get too many third downs, which was good. We had some explosive plays and the run game really took off.”

The Jets, plagued by slow starts all season, opened with a timeout — and boos from the MetLife Stadium crowd — because they had the wrong personnel on the field, but rebounded to score 28 points in the first half and were helped by an inept Chiefs offense that managed just 4 total yards in the first two quarters.

New York (8-5) also leapfrogged Cincinnati, Tennessee and Oakland, all 7-6 after losses Sunday, and took over the last wild-card spot in the AFC.

“It’s just what we’ve been talking about for the last 12, 13 weeks,” linebacker Calvin Pace said. “It all came to form today, which is what we needed. We kind of hold our own destiny in our hands and it was about getting a good win.”

Sanchez was 13 of 21 for 181 yards before being pulled for Mark Brunell with the game in hand, and was cheered warmly in pregame introductions after being booed in the team’s last home game two weeks ago.

Shonn Greene had a season-high 129 yards rushing and a score along with three catches for 58 yards, and Santonio Holmes and LaDainian Tomlinson each caught touchdown passes for the Jets (8-5), who have won three straight and improved to 6-1 at home.

“I guess it would be our best game so far this year,” coach Rex Ryan said.

It might have been a costly win, though, as starting safety Jim Leonhard was lost early with an injured right knee after an interception. He was scheduled to have an MRI exam on his right knee Monday to determine the severity of the injury. Many teammates thought it could be season-ending and a source told ESPNNewYork.com’s Rich Cimini that the Jets believe Leonhard has a torn ligament. The team said it would await the results before making an official determination.

“I’m hopeful it’s not that bad,” Ryan said, “but it’s never good when you’re carted off.”

Tyler Palko was sacked five times by the Jets in a miserable outing by the penalty-plagued Chiefs (5-8) a week after the quarterback earned his first victory as a starter at Chicago. He was 3 for 8 for 11 yards in the half, sacked three times, and the Chiefs had 4 total yards and one first down, compared to the Jets’ 16. Palko had a much better second half, finishing 16 of 32 for 195 yards and a touchdown and an interception.

“The Jets put a lot of pressure (on you),” Palko said. “That’s just what they do. They’re a lot like the Steelers. They have guys all over the place.”

Dwayne Bowe dropped a would-be touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter, but things got ugly for the Chiefs way before that.

In the most brutal stretch for Kansas City, the Chiefs were penalized five times for 81 yards during the Jets’ final touchdown drive. One of those was an unsportsmanlike conduct call on coach Todd Haley, who let his frustrations out on the officials. Kansas City finished with 11 penalties.

“That generally gets you beat,” said Haley, who wouldn’t elaborate on what he said to the officials. “The one thing we can’t do is lose our composure on calls.”

Sanchez’s 1-yard run gave the Jets a score on their first drive, the second straight game they’ve done that, but it began ominously as he had to call the timeout.

“That wasn’t great,” Ryan said. “That’s not going to go on my coaching resume.”

An 11-play, 77-yard drive followed, jumpstarted by Greene’s 31-yard rumble on the opening snap. On third-and-goal from the 3, Sanchez threw incomplete into the end zone, but Chiefs cornerback Javier Arenas was called for holding, giving the Jets a new set of downs at the 1. Sanchez then took the snap, faked the handoff to Greene and it appeared every Chiefs player bit as the Jets quarterback rolled to his left and strolled into the end zone untouched.

After Leonhard was injured and carted off the field, Sanchez dumped the ball off quickly to Greene, who zipped down the left sideline 36 yards before going out of bounds at the 2. Sanchez found Holmes in the middle of the end zone two plays later for a 4-yard touchdown and a 14-3 lead.

Greene’s 7-yard touchdown run put New York ahead 21-3 after a called fumble was overturned by officials. Tomlinson made it 28-3 less than 2 minutes later when he took a screen pass from Sanchez, made a few cutback moves and got a big block from center Nick Mangold for a 19-yard touchdown. It marked the first time the Jets scored 28 points in an opening half since scoring 40 against St. Louis in 2008.

Added Haley: “It was probably our worst half of football. I don’t know if it’s even close this season.”

Things really started getting out of hand midway through the third quarter when the Chiefs were called for three straight penalties, including an unsportsmanlike conduct on an irate Haley. A few plays later, Brandon Flowers and Kendrick Lewis were called for consecutive pass interference penalties, bringing the ball to the 4. On third-and-goal, Sanchez took the snap and rolled into the end zone for a 3-yard touchdown — his career-high fifth TD run of the season — and a 35-3 lead.

One of the few highlights for the Chiefs came when Jerheme Urban caught a 24-yard touchdown pass — in between four Jets defenders — to make it 35-10.

Sione Pouha tackled Jackie Battle for a safety late in the game after T.J. Conley’s punt was downed at the 1.

“It felt good,” Greene said, “to put a lot of points on the board and dominate.”

— Associated Press —

The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Tuesday that the club has signed T David Mims to the 53-man roster.

Mims (6-8, 335) spent the first 11 games of the 2011 season on the Chiefs practice squad after entering the NFL as a rookie free agent with the club.

He opened 42 games as a four-year starter at Virginia Union, earning All-America honors his final two seasons.

— Chiefs Public Relations —

The Kansas City Chiefs announced on Tuesday that the team has released T Jared Gaither.

Gaither (6-9, 340) has played in 43 regular season games (28 starts) and started five postseason contests with Baltimore (2007-10) and Kansas City (2011).

He originally entered the league as Baltimore’s fifth-round pick in the 2007 NFL Supplemental Draft. He saw action in 23 games (17 starts) in two seasons at Maryland. Gaither played one season at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va.

— Chiefs Public Relations —

Ben Roethlisberger threw a short touchdown pass to Weslye Saunders and the Pittsburgh Steelers took advantage of four turnovers by Tyler Palko to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 13-9 on Sunday night.

Playing with a broken thumb on his throwing hand, Roethlisberger was 21 of 31 for 193 yards and an interception for the Steelers (8-3), whose defense lost All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu to an injury in the first quarter yet still kept the bumbling Chiefs (4-7) from scoring a touchdown.

Kansas City hasn’t reached the end zone since the third quarter against Denver three weeks ago, a span of 45 offensive drives — including the final one Sunday night.

The Chiefs marched across midfield to the Pittsburgh 37 when Palko dropped back to pass. He was looking for Dwayne Bowe but threw it high and behind him, and Keenan Lewis hauled in the interception with 29 seconds left to seal the game and keep Pittsburgh tied atop the AFC North with Baltimore.Ben Roethlisberger joked that the broken thumb on his throwing hand was “still attached” after Sunday night’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are still tied for lead in the AFC North because of it.

Roethlisberger threw a short touchdown pass to Weslye Saunders in the first half, and the Steelers took advantage of four turnovers by Chiefs quarterback Tyler Palker in a 13-9 victory that allowed them to keep pace with Baltimore atop their loaded division.

Roethlisberger was 21 of 31 for 193 yards and an interception for the Steelers (8-3), whose defense lost All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu to a head injury in the first quarter yet still kept the bumbling Chiefs (4-7) from scoring a touchdown.

Kansas City hasn’t reached the end zone since the third quarter against Denver three weeks ago, a span of 45 offensive drives — including the final one Sunday night.

The Chiefs marched across midfield to the Pittsburgh 37 when Palko dropped back to pass. He was looking for Dwayne Bowe but threw it high and behind him, and Keenan Lewis hauled in the interception with 29 seconds left to seal the outcome.

Palko, making his second consecutive start in place of the injured Matt Cassel, also fumbled a snap and threw interceptions to Ike Taylor and Ryan Mundy on consecutive plays in the first half.

He fared little better than he did last week against New England, when he tossed three picks in his first NFL start. Palko finished 18 of 28 for 167 yards in what was likely his last chance.

The Chiefs claimed former Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton off waivers on Wednesday with the intention of having him compete with Palko for the starting job. Orton didn’t arrive in town until Friday, though, and he was inactive Sunday night after participating in only one practice.

Kansas City led 3-0 in the second quarter when Palko’s first interception, which Taylor returned to the Chiefs 8, resulted in a 21-yard field goal by the Steelers’ Shaun Suisham.

The second pick was returned by Mundy, who had taken over at safety for Polamalu, to the Kansas City 24. The defense appeared to hold Pittsburgh when Tamba Hali sacked Roethlisberger on third-and-7, but safety Jon McGraw was called for defensive holding to give the Steelers a first down.

Three plays later, Roethlisberger found Saunders in the back of the end zone.

Ryan Succop added a 49-yard field goal later in the second quarter for Kansas City, his second of the game, but Suisham answered with his own 49-yarder on the final play of the first half.

Succop added a 40-yard field goal with 6:11 left in the fourth quarter.

Polamalu left the game in the first quarter when he tackled 290-pound Chiefs offensive tackle Steve Maneri, who had caught a pass in the flat after lining up in the backfield.

The reigning Defensive Player of the Year’s head hit Maneri’s knee and he crumpled to the turf, where he lay while trainers came out to check on him. Polamalu was a bit wobbly when he stood up and the team said he was questionable to return with a “blow to the head.”

Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey also left in the first half with an illness.

Roethlisberger showed little evidence of the broken thumb that caused him to be somewhat limited in practice, hitting 10 different receivers. He got some help from Rashard Mendenhall, who ran for 57 yards, and a defense that kept giving the Pittsburgh offense prime field position.

The Steelers squandered a promising opportunity in the first quarter, driving inside the Chiefs 10-yard line. But backup running back Mewelde Moore had the ball poked out by Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali and it was recovered by Javier Arenas in the end zone for a touchback.

Kansas City gave the ball right back when Palko fumbled the snap moments later.

Pittsburgh also had a decent drive end midway through the scoreless third when Roethlisberger underthrew Antonio Brown down the sideline. Kansas City safety Travis Daniels swooped in to make the interception, but the Chiefs’ bumbling offense couldn’t capitalize.

That wound up being the story of the game.

— Associated Press —