Maybe it’s just something about Arena Football League doormats that cause the Rush to stumble.
Last week it was the 3-9 Utah Blaze upsetting the Rush. Saturday it was the 3-9 Kansas City Brigade taking the Central Division champions to the final 11 seconds before quarterback Russ Michna circled left end for a go-ahead score in front of a sellout crowd of more than 16,000 in Allstate Arena.
The Rush completed a two-point conversion and added a safety on Kansas City’s final snap for a 52-47 win. Wideout Travis LaTendresse pinned the Brigade on its 4-yard line on kickoff coverage, setting up the final tally.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to Kansas City,” said defensive lineman James Baron, who forced the fumble that led to the safety. “They fought their [butts] off, but so did we. When you can stick together, it goes a long way.”
The ugly win, in a game with a combined 20 penalties through three quarters, gave the Rush (10-3) a 6-0 sweep of Central Division teams.
Between penalties and dropped and poorly thrown passes, the Rush did not have to look far for the sources of their earlier problems in trailing one of the AFL’s doormats deep into the fourth quarter.
After a missed field goal and Kansas City defensive stop earlier in the game, the Rush managed to reverse the flow with a diving Dennison Robinson interception midway through the fourth quarter inside the Chicago 10. The interception was Robinson’s 12th, tying the franchise record. The Rush then scored on a 30-yard strike from Michna to LaTendresse.
Kansas City managed an answering score on a pass to 375-pound tight end Jamarr Ward, then stunned the Rush when defensive end Chris Demaree gathered in a pass intended for fullback Dan Alexander and returned it 35 yards to put the Brigade back up by two scores with eight minutes to play.
Kansas City scored on all three first-quarter possessions to lead 20-14 as its 1,000-pound three-man offensive line kept one of the AFL’s best pass rushes off quarterback D Bryant. The Rush was able to match the scoring pace into the second quarter before the Brigade scored on a Bryant rollout and a fourth-down Michna pass was broken up to give Kansas City the game’s first stop.
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jmullin@tribune.com
