Tom Brady has to be better ... and fast

FOXBOROUGH – Make that eight straight games with a sub-100 passer rating for Tom Brady, this one a 19 for 36, 169-yard stinker against the Kansas City Chiefs.

In a career full of Michelangelos, this one was a Fred.

Try telling that to the AFC West champion Chiefs, who spoke after knocking off the Patriots and ending a run of 21 straight home wins here at Gillette Stadium.

“They're the Patriots, at the end of the day, and they've got (Brady) back there,” said Chiefs defensive end Alex Okafor, who had one of three Kansas City sacks on the night. “Whenever you've got 12, whenever you've got Belichick, and whenever you've got that logo on the helmet, you know they're going to come with it. And every team had better respect that about them.”

After 18 seasons as the starter, 40 playoff games (30-10), 14 Pro Bowls and six Super Bowl rings, Brady, at 42, faces a monster challenge with this New England offense.

Can he and the Patriots do enough to beat teams like the Chiefs with a line that has struggled mightily at times, including last night, receivers that disappear for long stretches and a running game that has shown little to no consistency over the first 13 games?

Like it or not, whether he's grousing, happy or as he was last night postgame – dejected – it's on Tom Brady to make this offense acceptable.

Aesthetically and mathematically, Brady simply struggled again on Sunday. He went 0 for third down through the air, 2 for 12 overall. He was 8 of 17 for 68 yards passing in the second half.

Yet, there he was. After a pathetic, blown call on what could/should have been a TD pass to N'Keal Harry, New England finished this one just 5 yards and a PAT kick away from overtime.

New England now has three games, at Cincinnati and then home with Buffalo and Miami, to lock up a playoff bye and more importantly find something on offense to bank on.

This football team won't flip the switch on the running game as it did late a year ago.

As one Chief defender said in the visitors' room about the Pats need for gadgetry in the offense, “Straight up, we shut them out.”

There is no Gronk and/or Dwayne Allen to collapse the defensive edge, and the rookie Isaiah Wynn is no Trent Brown at left tackle.

Sony “Maroney” Michel and Rex Burkhead, this team's version of bell-cow backs, carried 12 times for 23 yards against a Chiefs team that ranked 30th against the run coming in.

Nope, this one is on TB12.

“As long as No. 12 is in that pocket, you have to worry about them,” said Chiefs defensive back Tyrann Mathieu.

But can he find enough in these receivers? Kansas City followed a script similar to those laid out by the Texans and Ravens before them.

They played tight man across the board on the Pats. Side note here, though. They were the first to not double Julian Edelman.

The man-to-man made them susceptible to the trick play, and the Patriots hit on both a flea-flicker for a 37-yard Brady-to-Edelman TD and a 35-yard James White-to-Jakobi Meyers halfback hookup. But it again illuminated the fact that nobody is getting separation.

For a fleeting moment in the fourth, it looked like happier times. The Pats took the ball over at their 20, down a score with 10 minutes to play. After a short run on first, Brady found Edelman for 13 and White for 17 – both wide open.

Back in business, right?

Nope. Brady hit Edelman for a 2-yard loss, followed by back-to-back misfires, and the flickering light was extinguished. Why? The Chiefs switched coverages back to man.

The QB is tuned in. He's willing, but …

“It was (legit) Tom Brady. He had that fourth-quarter look in his eyes like he was trying to score eight points (trailing by 7),” said Mathieu.

Three weeks left to make it happen, and you must wonder if it can be done. Harry and Meyers were targeted just four times all night, only three by Brady. And Mohamed Sanu, who cost this team a second-round pick, had just one catch. Of Brady's 36 pass attempts, 15 went away from Edelman and White. He's trying other options, but nobody is catching on. Yet.

Time seems to be running out. But even now, deep on Brady's back nine, he remains the one guy who might be able to get it done.