Print edition: 
KANSAS CITY, Mo. —When things go bad, coaches at all levels of football like to say that blame should be extended to many and not to one player or position group. It's a common deflection method.
Sometimes, though, it's true. The Chiefs showed Sunday, in a 17-10 loss to a bad Denver Broncos team, that their offense is broken — and that most everyone truly was to blame. It wasn't because quarterback Matt Cassel had a poor outing, although that was part of it. It wasn't because the offensive line has again shown that it is flawed, allowing four sacks — that's nine in the past two games, both home losses — and forcing Cassel to scramble far too often. And it wasn't because the Chiefs' wide receivers dropped several passes and that the team lacks a reliable running back.
It was the sum of those things Sunday that helped drop the Chiefs to 4-5 in perhaps their most embarrassing loss of the season.
"Too many negatives," coach Todd Haley said afterward.
On most passing plays, Cassel hardly had time to set his feet before defenders had surrounded him. One fourth-quarter possession ended when Cassel was hurried, tried to rush his throw before behind hit from behind, and the fourth-down pass fluttered out of his hand and to the turf.
Moving the ball on most series Sunday was a futile, discouraging effort. Repairing it seems like such a vast project that many players said that they wouldn't know where to begin.
"You can't explain it," wide receiver Steve Breaston said."... I mean, we didn't expect this, what happened today."
The Chiefs' offensive line has become a liability, and without blocking, quarterbacks and rushers have little chance of being productive. Left tackle Branden Albert said Cassel had no chance Sunday, considering how often he was hit and how quickly defenders such as Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller were in the backfield.
"If he can't settle in the pocket," Albert said, "he can't make his throws."
It was partly because of this that Cassel completed 13 of his 28 pass attempts. His longest completion was 15 yards, and he left Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday having compiled a 66.5 passer rating. Worse, he occasionally lifted himself from the turf and limped toward the sideline or the huddle. He suffered a hand injury late in Sunday's loss, and his status this week is unclear.
Running backs didn't have much more luck, rushing for 134 yards and showing again that this group can't be counted on to intimidate defenses.
"We just couldn't get anything going," running back Jackie Battle said. "They lined up some fronts that weren't familiar to us, and protection wasn't that great. We just got outplayed today."
The Chiefs have seven remaining regular-season games, and it's difficult to see a way that their offense will become noticeably better. Cassel is a useful quarterback only if the moving parts around him are doing their jobs. That has been the understanding all along: Cassel can make the offense work, but not if there are breakdowns throughout the offense.
There were breakdowns everywhere Sunday, most noticeably in pass protection. It's unclear whether Jared Gaither, a veteran tackle, or rookie center Rodney Hudson would offer much improvement. But as this unit continues to struggle, experimentation becomes more understandable.
Cassel took on much of the blame himself, but some of his teammates said Sunday that they didn't believe the loss was the quarterback's doing. Cassel said it would be difficult to find a single answer as to why the Chiefs struggled to gain yards and score points.
"I think it is a complicated answer, and for me to sit up here and try to give you a very detailed answer wouldn't — it would be difficult for me to do," he said. "We'll go back and review the film and see what we need to do better, but obviously we need to do a lot of things better."
Breaston said he saw his teammates trying too hard on Sunday. Albert said he saw ineffectiveness all around. It all led to mistakes, and those mistakes led to a loss that won't be quickly forgotten.
"Everybody just needs to bear down, from the offensive line to receivers, quarterback, everybody," Albert said. "Everybody on offense is accountable for things that go on.... We've just got to focus and keep getting better, and hopefully things come back together."
DenKC
First downs1617
Total Net Yards313258
Rushes-yards55-24424-134
Passing69124
Punt Returns2-163-29
Kickoff Returns1-03-53
Interceptions Ret. 0-00-0
Comp-Att-Int2-8-018-34-0
Sacked-Yards Lost0-04-16
Punts7-43.97-48.4
Fumbles-Lost1-01-0
Penalties-Yards8-654-40
Time of Possession33:3826:22
Denver73 0 7—17 Kansas City 0 0 7 3—10
First Quarter
Den—Tebow 7 run (Prater kick), 7:31.
Second Quarter
Den—FG Prater 38, 7:46.
Third Quarter
KC—McClain 1 pass from Cassel (Succop kick), 8:10.
Fourth Quarter
Den—Decker 56 pass from Tebow (Prater kick), 6:44.
KC—FG Succop 32, :07.
A—72,908.
Individual Statistics
Rushing—Denver, Ball 30-96, Moreno 4-52, Tebow 9-43, Royal 3-19, Larsen 5-17, McGahee 4-17. Kansas City, Battle 9-61, McCluster 8-45, Cassel 2-16, Palko 1-8, Jones 4-4.
Passing—Denver, Tebow 2-8-0-69. Kansas City, Cassel 13-28-0-93, Palko 5-6-0-47.
Receiving—Denver, Decker 1-56, Willis 1-13. Kansas City, McCluster 6-48, Breaston 4-33, Pope 3-18, Bowe 2-17, McClain 2-9, Baldwin 1-15.
Missed Field Goals—Denver, Prater 41 (WL).
