Before you can regularly defeat NFL opponents, you have to make them play. Yet for the third time in four weeks, the Chiefs did not make an opponent really play.

Making opponents play means keeping the pressure on them for 60 minutes, forcing them to sweat for every point or break, and not making anything easy for them.

As the 34-0 score indicates, the Chiefs never made the Carolina Panthers play.

Granted, the Chiefs were big underdogs and on the road against one of the NFL’s better teams. But from the start, the Panthers did as they pleased, when they pleased. It’s not often you see an NFL team bring in a backup quarterback and third-string running back to mop up for 10 minutes.

The Chiefs threw a scare into the Patriots at New England in the opener because they pushed them to the limit. Once quarterback Tom Brady was knocked out of the game, the defending AFC champions were forced out of their comfort zone. They had to pull out all the stops just to stay ahead, then sweat out a goal-line stand in the final minute.

The Chiefs upset the Denver Broncos two Sundays ago because they made them play. The Chiefs took advantage of a weak defense and got Larry Johnson loose for 65 yards on the second play. From then on, the Broncos were under pressure – and it showed. The Chiefs forced four turnovers, including two interceptions of Jay Cutler.

The more stress you put on a team, the more mistakes it will make. Had the Chiefs’ defense applied as little pressure on the Broncos as they did on the Panthers, you can bet Cutler would not have made even one serious mistake.

And when you don’t make an opponent play, even their mistakes don’t come back to haunt them. An interception and fumble didn’t slow the Panthers at all.

The Chiefs didn’t make the Raiders or Falcons play, either. Even for a rebuilding team, three losses by an average of 24 points are signs of underachievement.

These blowouts tell us, sad to stay, that too many players aren’t hanging in there for 60 minutes. CBS analyst Rich Gannon, a former Chiefs quarterback, expressed dismay that too many Chiefs were standing around instead of going to the ball during the return of a third-quarter interception of Damon Huard.

These lopsided losses also remind us that the Chiefs know only one way to win – get Johnson going early, keep the game close and force opponents to throw. A successful NFL team must be more resourceful than that unless it’s fundamentally exceptional. The Chiefs, however, rank near the bottom of the league on both offense and defense.

The Indianapolis Colts overcame a 17-point lead in Houston on Sunday because they never stopped putting pressure on the Texans. Once a Peyton Manning touchdown pass cut the lead to 27-17 with 4:04 left, the Colts forced two fumbles and won 31-27.

The Colts, of course, have a future Hall of Fame quarterback and are just two seasons removed from a Super Bowl victory. Yet they’re winless at home and were a few minutes away from falling to 1-3. But they never let Sunday’s game get completely out of striking distance.

A team that’s been designed by Herm Edwards to stress ball control, good field position and tough defense should routinely enter the fourth quarter with a halfway decent chance to win.

Instead, more often than not, the Chiefs are going into the fourth quarter hopelessly beaten. Until they break that habit, they’ll be hard pressed to show much progress.