Chiefs near historic reversal of fortune

Amazingly, the Kansas City Chiefs -- a club that won just 10 games in the last three seasons -- is the NFL’s only undefeated team. If they win at Indianapolis on Sunday, the Chiefs will become the eighth team in NFL history to start 4-0 after starting the previous season 0-4.

“We don’t want a repeat performance of last year,” cornerback Brandon Carr told the Kansas City Star. “But we knew last year that we were getting better. It may not have shown on the scoreboard, but we were doing the little things. Now it’s paying off, and you can see it.”

Teams that made the turnaround from 0-4 to 4-0:

Unlocked Gates

San Diego’s Antonio Gates leads the NFL with six touchdown receptions and, if he gets one against the Raiders on Sunday, can join Wesley Walls (Carolina, 1999) as the only tight ends to record a touchdown reception in each of his team’s first five games of the season.

“He could have been content with where he was at four years ago, but he’s elevated his play to an even higher level,” Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers told the North County Times. “He’s as explosive as he’s ever been and consistently gets yards after the catch. He’s worked both mentally and physically, and it’s clearly paid off.”

Colts connection

Peyton Manning has thrown 63 touchdowns to Reggie Wayne. One more, and they will pass another great Colts combo -- Johnny Unitas to Raymond Berry -- for fifth place on the list of all-time tandems.

And No. 1 on that list?

Manning and former Indianapolis receiver Marvin Harrison, who connected for 112 touchdowns.

Wayne isn’t the only Colts pass-catcher approaching a milestone. If Dallas Clark catches one more, he and Manning will tie old Redskins Sonny Jurgensen and Jerry Smith as the second-most productive quarterback-to-tight-end tandem, with 43 touchdowns. Leading that list are former Patriots Drew Bledsoe and Ben Coates with 45.

“I guess it means you’ve been around awhile,” Clark told reporters. “It’s one of those fun stats, an interesting number that no one really tells you about.”

Top quarterback-receiver tandems:

Working overtime

New England gets a bye. So did Minnesota. But Randy Moss doesn’t. The star receiver was traded from the Patriots to the Vikings after Minnesota got its week off, and before New England had its open date.

That means Moss has a chance to be the sixth player since the bye was instituted in 1990 to play in 17 regular-season games. Those 17-game players: