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KC Chiefs football news

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December 21st, 2012 by Ric Hanson

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs running back Jamaal Charles says he’s focused on finishing strong after coming back from a devastating knee injury and then dealing with a murder-suicide that hit close to home. Charles tore his left ACL early last season, but has returned to be one of the few bright spots for the 2-12 Chiefs. He’s run for 1,230 yards and four touchdowns this year. What he’s overcome physically pales in comparison to what he’s dealt with emotionally.

Three weeks ago Saturday, Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher shot to death his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins, and then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and committed suicide. Perkins was the cousin of Charles’ wife, Whitney, and Charles introduced her to Belcher. Charles declined to talk about the shootings Thursday, saying “I just want to talk about football.”

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arrowhead Stadium hasn’t been much of a home-field advantage for the Chiefs lately. Kansas City must win its home finale Sunday against Indianapolis to avoid having a single home win over the course of a season for the third time in five years. Prior to that, the Chiefs had won more than once at Arrowhead Stadium every season since 1977.

Kansas City is a combined 12-27 over the past five seasons, a winning percentage of .308 — well below the Chiefs’ success rate of better than 57 percent at their 40-year-old home. Empty seats have been multiplying with every loss the past two seasons, too. While the Chiefs’ average home attendance remains 69,304 — good for 13th in the NFL — it also represents just 90.3 percent of capacity, better only than six teams in the league.