KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Chiefs have a wide receiver on the roster with a touchdown reception this season. But Kansas City doesn’t have a receiver on the roster who scored with the Chiefs.

Jason Avant caught a 14-yard touchdown pass in Week 2 against Detroit. Of course, he was a member of the Carolina Panthers at the time he pulled in that throw from quarterback Cam Newton in the Panthers 24-7 victory.

“He has done a great job especially coming in on short notice,” quarterback Alex Smith said Wednesday. “He has the history of the offense there in Philly, but obviously ours is different here. Done a great job of coming in and the mental part of it — coming in and being prepared when his number is called and then going out there and making plays.”

That no Chiefs wide receiver has carried the ball into the end zone has become the illustration point for the team’s recent three games losing streak that has left them on the brink of elimination from the playoffs. It’s a story that head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Alex Smith are tired of hearing about, yet it’s now 13 games without one of them making sure the scoring drought came to an end for their wide receivers. They will hear about it even more if the streak stretches through this Sunday’s game against Oakland.

“The touchdowns, other people are scoring them,” head coach Reid said Wednesday. “I think we are ok there. They are making plays there. I think Dwayne Bowe has had a very good year. Even though he hasn’t had a touchdown, he’s had a very good year. Those things will come. I’m not that worried about them. We have touchdowns coming in other places.”

Since late in the first quarter of the Chiefs victory over the Washington Redskins on December 8, 2013, Smith and Chase Daniel have thrown 488 passes without hooking up with a wide receiver for a touchdown. Now, that does not count the loss to Indianapolis in the first-round of the AFC playoffs back in early January. In that game, Smith connected with both Dwayne Bowe and Donnie Avery for touchdown passes in the first half.

That’s 488 straight throws in the regular season that did not lead a Chiefs wide receiver to the end zone. The complete lack of scoring catches at the position is stunning, but anybody looking at the Chiefs roster going into the season would not have been shocked if the team’s tight ends and running backs caught more touchdowns.

Smith said some of the stats questions are a direct correlation to running back Jamaal Charles’ production.

“Obviously Jamaal leads the NFL in scoring. He’s an elite, elite player in this league,” Smith said.

The current receivers on the Chiefs roster had 11 touchdown catches in the league last year, with five of those from one man: Bowe. The others were Donnie Avery, Jason Avant (with Philadelphia) and Junior Hemingway each with two scores. All the receivers currently on the roster have 73 career scores, with 44 of those belonging to Bowe.

Reid and general manager John Dorsey obviously felt otherwise because they made no major additions to the group in the off-season. The closest they got to adding talent there was drafting De’Anthony Thomas, who is more of a hybrid player than running back or wide receiver.

Reid is still struggling to find a No. 2 receiver to play opposite of Bowe. Avery went down in the season’s fourth game with a sports hernia and he’s caught one pass since then. Based on Reid’s comments on Monday, Avery still isn’t physically ready to be a full-time player. A.J. Jenkins had the chance to step in, but he was too inconsistent and eventually got hurt himself and landed on the injured-reserve list.

At various points in the last month undrafted receivers Frankie Hammond and Albert Wilson have gotten a chance to step up on the depth chart. It would be easy to excuse those guys if they were a little seasick from the constant rise and fall of their playing time. Wilson barely saw the field through the first 10 games on the schedule. Against Seattle, he did not have an offensive snap. The next game against Oakland, he saw 17 offensive plays, but against Denver he did not play on offense. Yet, a week later against Arizona, Wilson got 48 snaps in the offense, more than any other receiver other than Bowe. Hammond saw 32 snaps against Seattle and then 56 in the Oakland game. Since then he’s had 10 against Denver and three against Arizona.

Avant came off the street after being released by Carolina and signed with the Chiefs on November 21. Nine days later after three practices with the Chiefs he saw 31 snaps against Denver and then another 31 in the Arizona game.

Across from Bowe, five other receivers have started games this season, a figure that sometime in the next three games figures to grow to a half-dozen when Avant gets a starting assignment. Stability has not been one of the hallmarks of the position.

The chances are good that a Chiefs wide receiver will find the end zone before the 2014 season is over. But that will not eliminate the problem — not enough talented players at the position.