Here is what's at stake this afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium when two frustrated and winless teams go to battle: the loser falls to 0-4 and basically will have the next 13 weeks to imitate former Colts coach Jim Mora.

Playoffs?!?! Playoffs?!?!
Only one 0-4 team has ever rebounded to reach the postseason. That was the 1992 San Diego Chargers, a team Kansas City Star writer Kent Babb did some research on this week as the Chiefs and Vikings each look for a roadmap out of Winlessville. But Babb's story also indicates Chiefs coach Todd Haley has used the 1989 Pittsburgh Steelers to inspire his players this week. Those Steelers were only 9-7 but showed a measure of resolve that always impressed Haley.

From today's Kansas City Star:

Haley was attending college in Jacksonville, Fla., and he'd watch his hometown Steelers at a sports bar near the Intracoastal Waterway. Pittsburgh started 0-2, outscored 92-10 by Cleveland and Cincinnati.

"Crunched as bad as you can get crunched," he says now. "… They could've, at any time, packed it in."

The point he makes to his players is that the Steelers didn't give up that season; Pittsburgh finished 9-7 and reached the second round of the playoffs. Haley showed his team a highlight tape of that 1989 team, reinforcing its message with another: that a turnaround is possible from ditches that seem inescapable.

After three losses this season, Haley has begun trying many of the same tactics used 19 years ago by Ross. His staff has maintained its message, avoiding signs of panic, and encouraged players to avoid listening to outside criticism. Ross might have been associated with the Laurel and Hardy duo, but the Chiefs have been the punch line to jokes two weeks in a row by Jay Leno.

So the Chiefs distributed shirts to players this week, and on the back, the message is in dark, block letters: "'We' Don't Hear The Hate."

"I believe in these guys. I really do," Haley says. "I keep feeling like it's going to be OK — as long as we do the little things right."

The team that doesn't do the little things right? Well, we know where that discussion leads ...