KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When a group of elated Kansas City Chiefs players doused interim coach Romeo Crennel with a jug of Gatorade, he soaked it all in as a big smile creased his face.
The Chiefs had just pulled off one of the biggest shockers of the National Football League season Sunday afternoon, knocking off the previously unbeaten Green Bay Packers 19-14 before 74,093 stunned fans at Arrowhead Stadium.
If ever there were a signature victory for an interim coach, this would have to be one. After all, the Chiefs accomplished something that no other NFL team had done in 19 straight games — dating to last season — beat the defending Super Bowl champions.
“That’s the thing we talked to those guys about with a Green Bay Packers team coming in here, undefeated, everybody had marked it off as a win for the Packers,” Crennel said in his postgame press conference. “But those guys in the locker room, they’re football players.
“They decided that they were not going to lay down. They were not going to give up, so they went out and played a tremendous game.”
Yet, Crennel knows as anyone else that Sunday’s win is just one game in his quest of becoming the Chiefs’ head coach, something he lobbied for last week after Todd Haley was fired on Monday and Crennel was promoted from his defensive coordinator position.
Crennel, formerly the Cleveland Browns head coach from 2005-08, knows that he will get a long look again on Saturday. The 6-8 Chiefs, a longshot to make the playoffs but still mathematically alive, host the Oakland Raiders at noon at Arrowhead.
And, Crennel knows that he will face more scrutiny when the Chiefs travel to Denver to take on Tim Tebow and the first-place Broncos in the regular-season finale on New Year’s Day.
Crennel was asked if the upset win over the Packers solidified his chances to return as head coach next season.
“I really have no way of knowing that,” he said. “All I know is we won a game and played a good football team and we played a good football game.
“We looked like a pro football team. That was a positive. We’ll see what the next two weeks bring because every week is a different week in the NFL. Then at the end of it, we’ll see … we’ll let the chips fall where they may.”

Spoiling shot at history
Playing the role of spoiler, the Chiefs denied Green Bay, which lost for the first time in 14 games this season, a shot at becoming only the second team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl with an unbeaten record.
The Miami Dolphins own the only perfect season in league history as their 1972 team beat the Washington Redskins 14-7 in the Super Bowl to cap an unparalleled 17-0 campaign.
The 2007 New England Patriots recorded the best regular season ever, posting an 18-0 mark before losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
“Really, what is disappointing to me is that we didn’t clinch home-field advantage (for the playoffs),” Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy said. “That was always the goal. I personally always viewed the undefeated season as, really, just gravy.
“The goal was to get the home-field advantage and win the Super Bowl. That’s what we discussed as a football team. We were fortunate enough to be in the position to possibly achieve the undefeated season, but we still have the primary goal in front of us and that’s to get the home-field advantage.”
The Packers play their final two regular-season games at Lambeau Field, entertaining the Chicago Bears on Christmas Day and the Detroit Lions on New Year’s Day.

Orton shines
Quarterback Kyle Orton outplayed Packers QB Aaron Rodgers in his first full game with the Chiefs, completing an impressive 23 of 31 passes for 299 yards. Rodgers finished with 17-for-35 passing for 235 yards.
The presence of a downfield passing attack, along with 139 yards from the running game, helped the Chiefs win the battle in the critical time of possession category: 36:11 to 23:49.
The Chiefs sustained enough drives for Ryan Succop to kick field goals from distances of 19, 32, 46 and 20 yards.
Rodgers was harried by a Chiefs defense led by star outside linebacker Tamba Hali, who had three of their four sacks.
“It still sucks,” said Rodgers, when asked what it felt like losing for the first time in 324 days. “It’s nice to go a calendar year without feeling like this.”
The Packers had not lost since falling to the New England Patriots 31-27 on Dec. 19, 2010.

Nelson contained
The Packers’ leader for receiving yards, Riley County and Kansas State product Jordy Nelson was limited to only two receptions for 29 yards.
Nelson, a former walk-on at Kansas State who later became an NCAA All-America selection, was flagged for two offensive pass interference penalties in the first quarter alone.
Someone suggested to McCarthy that the Chiefs alerted the officials to watch Nelson for pushing off.
“Well, two quick calls like that, offensive pass interference, I would say that’s uncommon,” McCarthy said. “I don’t think you see that very often.”