KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- When the Kansas City Chiefs failed to make important fourth-quarter stops in four losses during October and November, the pressure on new defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo tightened.
The defense that Spagnuolo was brought in to fix hadn't shown much improvement from the previous year when it was a liability. With an offense as explosive as the Chiefs', the defense was once again threatening to ruin a good thing.
But the Chiefs anticipated some tough times early in the season, when they were trying to mesh many new elements while changing from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense.