The Sports Xchange

KANSAS CITY — Second-year Kansas City Chiefs kicker Cairo Santos had the best game of his career on Sunday as he established a franchise record with seven field goals while scoring all the team’s points in a 36-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

“It’s always great to go out there and perform well and do your job, but I think I would have happier if I kicked seven extra point and won the game instead of field goals,” said Santos, who made two field goals from 51 yards, another from 40 yards, and shorter tries from 34, 29 and 22 yards.

Santos was 3-for-4 on field goals going into the game, missing only from 51 yards. After going 25-of-30 as a rookie, he has hit 10-of-11 this season, or 35-of-41 for his short career, a success percentage of 85.4 percent.

The 51-yard field goals were both into the wind at the south end zone in Paul Brown Stadium, but neither wavered and each one had another five to 10 yards of distance on them at the end.

“Those long ones were into the wind, so it was kind of a tough day of kicking with the weather,” Santos said. “I give huge thanks to my holder (Dustin Colquitt); he is kind of like my caddy helping me with the wind.”

Santos’ seven successful field goals broke the Chiefs record of six that was set by Ryan Succop in 2012 at New Orleans. Only one other kicker in club history has attempted seven field goals in a single game, and that was Hall of Famer Jan Stenerud who was 5-for-7 in 1971 against Buffalo.

–Although the statistics looked better, the tough season for quarterback Alex Smith continued against Cincinnati in Sunday’s loss to the Bengals.

Smith did throw for career-high numbers in yards (386) and matched his high in completions (31). After interception problems the previous two games, Smith did not throw a ball to the other side.

However, there was not a touchdown throw and he was beaten up by the Cincy pass rush that produced five sacks and another five plays when he was knocked to the ground.

“I thought at times today we handled it pretty well,” said Smith, who has been sacked 18 times in four games. “I thought we had a good plan for it, made some plays against them. Certainly they made their plays against us.

“You’re never going to be perfect on the road against a defense like that; they’re going to get some, and hopefully you get them a few times.”

Smith did produce more big passing plays than in previous games, hitting 44-yard completions to wide receivers Jeremy Maclin and Chris Conley.

In three previous games, the Chiefs produced only one completion for more than 44 yards.

“No question game plan-wise all week we were going to spread it out, pick our spots and if some opportunities presented themselves, we were going to take them,” Smith said.

“I feel like we did a better job of that today, mixing it around (and) spreading it out after being put in some tough situations.”

–Wide receiver Jeremy Maclin caught 11 passes for 148 yards, giving him back-to-back games with more than 100 yards receiving.

He had 141 yards on eight catches in last Monday night’s game against Green Bay. It is only the second time Maclin pulled down 100 yards or more in receiving in consecutive games. He also did it with Philadelphia last year. The back-to-back 100-plus yard effort is the first time by a Chiefs receiver since 2011, when Dwayne Bowe topped that mark in consecutive games.

–Cornerback Sean Smith returned to the starting lineup on the right side against Cincinnati. Smith missed the first three games of the season under an NFL suspension. He finished the game with three tackles and knocked down one pass, while spending most of the second half covering the Bengals best receiver, A.J. Green.

“A.J. is such a unique talent,” Smith said. “He has great technique and you have to be on point every time. I knew going into the game that my footwork and everything would have to be on point to guard him. … I felt pretty good out there.”

–Laurent Duvernay-Tardif lost his starting job at right guard, as he was replaced by Zach Fulton in the opening line against Cincinnati. Duvernay-Tardif started the season’s first three games.

“Sometimes you can take a step back to take a step forward,” coach Andy Reid said of the second-year blocker out of Canadian college football.

“That’s one of the toughest guys on our football team. He doesn’t have as much experience as the other guys.”

Fulton started all 16 games last season as a rookie, but lost the starting spot in training camp.

“I like what Zach Fulton has been doing,” Reid said of Fulton’s work in practice where the player took snaps at guard and center.

NOTES: Inside linebacker Josh Mauga (thigh) left Sunday’s game in the first quarter because of a strained muscle in his right thigh. …

Running back Knile Davis did not take a snap on offense against Cincinnati, even though he was healthy and did return four kickoffs. It was the second consecutive game that Davis, a 2013 third-round draft choice out of the University of Arkansas, did not play on offense.