"Last Sunday wasn't the best example of reality, at least after Denver zipped to a huge lead, but that didn't mean the Chiefs stopped paying attention to how some players reacted.

Coach Todd Haley said this week that his starters were given the option late in the game of calling it a night. That game was finished, and perhaps it was best to bid Denver adieu.

Not everyone saw it that way.

"We have to continue to fight," quarterback Matt Cassel said this week. "You're paid to play for 60 minutes."

Cassel might not be the NFL's model of a heroic, game-changing quarterback. But one thing he has become is a reliable voice on the Chiefs' sideline. The simple thing Sunday would've been to step aside and let the backups play. Haley said there are plenty of reserves who need work.

But in that game and in these early seasons of the team's transition, Haley said the Chiefs need players who don't quit, even when there's every reason to.

"You just see who your leaders are," Haley said. "He wanted to continue to lead the team.

"The leader's got to go down with the ship occasionally."

Anything that happened in the second half of Sunday's 49-29 beat-down was, in some ways, a mirage. The Chiefs abandoned their game plan of rushing and put the slim chances of a comeback — the Broncos had a 35-0 lead at halftime — in Cassel's hands. That has generally not been an ideal situation for the Chiefs, but when they finally got their engine to turn over Sunday, Cassel was calm, determined and effective."