What Were They Thinking: Reid helps Chiefs implode; McCoy refuses to use timeouts

What Were They Thinking is a weekly post that helps you relive the foolish decisions from the week in the NFL. Enjoy the insanity.

Reid with another late-game meltdown

Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has been a pioneer in mismanaging the clock, and Thursday he wrote another chapter in his disastrous body of work.

Tied with the Denver Broncos at 24 and 36 seconds remaining, the Chiefs had the ball at their 20. At this point, Kansas City had one significant decision to make: either take a knee to send the game to overtime, or get aggressive and let Alex Smith throw to try to get into field goal range.

Considering the Chiefs had lost six straight to the Broncos, already wasted a timeout on their last possession in typical Reid fashion, and Smith hasn't thrown a touchdown to a wide receiver in almost two years, the logical idea was to get to overtime. Instead, Reid called a draw and Jamaal Charles, who already lost a fumble earlier, coughed it up again and Bradley Roby ran it in for the winning touchdown.

Sure, Charles deserves a significant portion of the blame for running into the meat of the defense while carrying the ball like he was playing a backyard pickup game, but Reid committed the real crime. An inside handoff in that situation served no purpose. Charles would have had to break a big run to give the Chiefs a legitimate shot at a field goal given the time remaining. If Reid wanted to run out the clock, taking a knee eliminates the possibility for a disaster.

It's remarkable how Reid manages to reinvent himself every year in these debacles.

McCoy refuses to use a timeout

For whatever reason, San Diego Chargers head coach Mike McCoy was anxious to get to halftime against the Cincinnati Bengals. So much so, McCoy didn't even want to see his team get another possession.

With 50 seconds left in the half, the Bengals failed on third down and had to punt with the clock running. San Diego had two timeouts left and could have easily used one to stop the clock and given themselves another possession. McCoy, though, chose to keep the timeouts and by the time the officials spotted the ball, the Bengals didn't even have to punt before time expired.

Granted, Cincy would've punted from its 41-yard line, so the Chargers likely would have been starting from deep in their own territory, but why not at least use a timeout and see if you can block it or maybe get a decent return? Then you'd be setting up Philip Rivers with 35-40 seconds and a timeout to get into scoring range. What would he have to lose?

McCoy justified it after the game by saying he didn't call timeout because he was confident his team would score on the first possession of the third quarter, but is there some rule stating you can't score on back-to-back possessions?

The Chargers lost by five, but at least McCoy had two timeouts in his pocket to cheer him up on the long plane ride home.

Vernon sparks Jaguars win

The Jacksonville Jaguars offense isn't exactly the Greatest Show on Turf, so they gladly accepted a gift from Miami Dolphins pass rusher Olivier Vernon on Sunday.

Tied at 20 with under a minute to go, Vernon inexplicably hit a Jaguars player after the whistle and received a personal foul. It cost the Dolphins 15 yards and moved the Jags into field goal range, where Jason Myers hit an easy game-winning kick.

It's one thing to get a penalty hustling or trying to make a play, but losing your cool and handing an opponent a late win is inexcusable.

Quick Hits

• Denver gambled on a fourth-and-1 at the Chiefs 22 in the second quarter of a scoreless game. You could argue the gamble made sense, but what didn't was running a slow-developing, low-percentage end-around to Emmanuel Sanders that easily got stuffed.
• The Eagles faced a fourth-and-1 at their own 49 on the game's first possession, when Chip Kelly called a timeout and the punt team off the field to perhaps consider going for it. Only he punted anyway.
• San Francisco jumped offside on an extra point, allowing the Steelers to accept it as a half the distance to the goal penalty from the 2-yard line, even though kicks are now from the 15. They easily converted.
• The Patriots went for it on fourth-and-1 in their own territory and failed in the second quarter with a 21-7 lead. The Bills capitalized and scored two plays later. Why risk giving Buffalo any momentum in a game New England was controlling?