KANSAS CITY Tyrann Mathieu Jersey , Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs had just scored their second touchdown in less than 10 seconds of game time, an interception that Ron Parker returned untouched for a score, and taken a 38-7 lead over the Cincinnati Bengals with nearly an entire quarter to go.Talk about being able to put a game on cruise control.The Chiefs didn’t exactly sub out their entire first string down the stretch, leaving quarterback Patrick Mahomes and most of the regulars in the game. But they were able to rest easy over the final 10 minutes as they improved to an AFC-best 6-1 and kept their stranglehold on their own division.“Week-in, week-out, we’ve just been preaching playing consistent, playing a full 60 minutes,” Chiefs cornerback Kendall Fuller said. “We’ve been putting good film out there.”Now it’s up to the rest of the league to break it down.The only team that’s managed to hang with the Chiefs this season was New England, and even Tom Brady and Co. had their hands full at home. If not for a crucial drive that set up Stephen Gostkowski’s winning field goal, the Chiefs might have been able to win that one, too.Making the first stretch of the season even more impressive? The Chiefs have weathered probably the toughest stretch of games they’ll have all season and come out shining like a diamond.They beat the Chargers on the road to open the season, and Los Angeles has only lost once since that defeat.Pittsburgh has two losses and one of those was to the Chiefs. The Jaguars and Broncos would be at .500 if not for their losses to Kansas City, and the Bengals rolled into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday night with plenty of optimism and headed home after a 45-10 blitzing.Take out games against the Chiefs, their first seven opponents are a combined 23-17-1.The next nine games include a pair of games against Oakland, which is 1-5, and a home game against Arizona, which is 1-6. Throw in games against struggling Denver at Arrowhead Stadium and trips to Seattle and Cleveland and the Chiefs fully intend to keep hold of the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs.“Of course you have the ultimate goal in mind,” Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford said, “but whatever we need to do to improve. We know that this is the kind of league where what you put on film or what you struggle with, teams are going to challenge you the next week.“Really the biggest challenge for us is to keep playing,” he said. “Stay in the process.”The Chiefs do have a couple of marquee games down the stretch, including a showdown with the unbeaten Los Angeles Rams in Mexico City. But their other difficult games against Baltimore and the Chargers are at home, where a sellout crowds have made life miserable for opposing teams this season.Just ask the Bengals about facing the Chiefs at home.Or anywhere Steven Nelson Jersey , for that matter.“It was a bad look for the whole team to see that happen. It’s such a big score difference,” Bengals linebacker Preston Brown said. “You never want to go out there and get blown out on a Sunday night, (especially) when it’s been something we’ve been waiting to show the whole league what we can do. And now, to put up a goose egg like that, it’s not a good look.”Brown took heart, though, in the fact that the Chiefs have made lots of defenses look foolish. They have only been held under 30 points once and still beat the Broncos 27-23 that night, and the versatility they have shown with Tyreek Hill, Kareem Hunt and Travis Kelce leading the way has helped them put up the kind of numbers that kids pile up playing the “Madden” video game.They’ve set a franchise record with 260 points through the first seven games, and their three 40-point efforts this season is tied for third-best in Chiefs history — for an entire season.Mahomes has tossed 22 touchdown passes in his first eight career games, breaking the NFL record held by Kurt Warner. He also has a record 2,507 yards passing over that span, throwing for at least 300 yards in a franchise-record six consecutive games.No wonder the Chiefs pulled out some audacious touchdown celebrations against the Bengals on Sunday night. Life in the NFL is a lot of fun when you’re cruising to wins almost every week.“It’s a young bunch,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said. “I’m the grandfather. These guys are moving around and enjoying what they are doing, and it’s fun to be a part of and fun to watch.” KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The last thing the NFL would ever want is for an officiating mistake to decide the Super Bowl.On Sunday, the league might have made enough errors to determine both teams that will play in the championship game in two weeks.The most egregious gaffe came in the NFC title game in New Orleans. The Saints were in position to put away the Rams when Tommylee Lewis blatantly was interfered with inside the Los Angeles 5-yard line by cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman. Not only did Robey-Coleman hit Lewis early, he did so helmet to helmet. Next weekend, we’ll hear about Robey-Coleman being fined for the collision — even though, incredibly, no flag was thrown.“Came to the sideline, looked at the football gods and was like, ‘Thank you Tony Gonzalez Jersey ,'” Robey-Coleman said. “I got away with one tonight.”Such a big one that it kept the Rams alive. Instead of a first down and the chance to run down the clock before making a field goal, or score a touchdown for a bigger lead, the Saints wound up with Wil Lutz’s 31-yard kick. That made it 23-20 with 1:41 left in regulation, plenty of time for the Rams to march to Greg Zuerlein’s tying 48-yard field goal.“Greg The Leg” won it with a 57-yarder in OT. His heroics almost certainly never would have happened had the call on Robey-Coleman been made. And the fact the defender led with his head into Lewis’ helmet at a time when the NFL is adamant that it’s doing everything to get such hits out of the sport should be even more maddening.“They felt like the players — the player — arrived at the same time that the ball did,” Saints coach Sean Payton said, trying to be diplomatic when he had every right to rant and rave. “They didn’t feel like it was an interference call.“Look, it’s a tough way to lose a game, especially when you’re in a position like that to win it. It’s all the more reason why we need more replay. We lose a chance to go to the Super Bowl with a call like that, it’s just disappointing. But, credit the Rams. They did a good job, made the plays in the end when they needed to.”Plays that wouldn’t have existed if Bill Vinovich’s crew got it right.An argument often is made, and rightly so, that plays seen in slow motion become clearly illegal, but at full speed in an increasingly fast and physical game, they look OK. That contention has no place here; even at warp speed, Robey-Coleman’s hit was obviously a penalty.NFL senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron “couldn’t believe” no penalty call was called on the play, Payton said.“It’s tough to get over it,” Payton said. “My problem with it is, I just don’t know, if we were playing pickup football in the backyard … it was as obvious a call — and how two guys can look at that and arrive at their decision? It happened though.”A few things happened in Kansas City, too, where the Patriots won 37-31, also in overtime. These had more to do with replay Derrick Thomas Jersey , with two critical calls going New England’s way in the fourth quarter.The first, which required a lengthy video review, involved Julian Edelman muffing a punt. The original call was that the bouncing ball touched him. Replays, even in stop motion, seemed inconclusive, which means the call should stand.But Riveron and his staff in New York saw enough evidence that Edelman never made contact with the football. Even Kansas City’s laid-back coach, Andy Reid, became highly demonstrative with the overturned decision. Who could blame him considering how many dozens of such calls stick with what on-field officials determined?The Chiefs, perhaps in a dose of poetic justice, soon after intercepted a pass that went off Edelman’s hands.But later in the quarter, Chris Hogan attempted a one-handed catch on third down. Reid challenged, and replay indicated far more evidence the ground helped Hogan make the catch than the previous review showed Edelman whiffed on the ball.No matter. The catch was upheld, and six plays later, Sony Michel scored a touchdown.Chiefs linebacker Dee Ford also went offside on the Patriots’ final drive in regulation, negating an interception by Charvarius Ward that could have clinched a win. But there was little controversy there.The league has been under heavy scrutiny and drawn massive criticism about its officiating in the last few years. The perception is that the NFL needs full-time officials, which might help somewhat, and in part is being done.However, the deeper issues are too many rules and tangents to those rules; points of emphasis that get hammered in, then seemingly are discarded; and officials who struggle to keep up with the speed of the sport. The league prizes experience, but when one of its most experienced crews blows a call so blatant that even the perpetrator acknowledges he caught a break, the storm of protest will rage.Rightly so.