One of the many questions Panthers fans have had in the 24 hours since Carolina's collapse against the Chiefs is: Why did coach Ron Rivera go for the win instead of play for overtime?

Tied at 17 in the final minute, Kansas City was forced to punt from its own 26-yard line. Ted Ginn Jr. brought his return to the Carolina 33, but a block in the back by David Mayo meant the Panthers had to start the drive at their 20 with no timeouts and just 29 seconds remaining in regulation.

"One thing we knew is they tend to play soft in those types of situations initially because they don't want to give up a big play," Rivera explained Monday. "They want to try to keep you in front of them, and you can get a couple big chunk plays and then who knows? Somebody makes a play and then you're in field goal position.

"The thing that concerned me is he had three timeouts, and our kicker had to be our punter. They have a pretty good return game; we know that, and we saw them break one. So being backed up, the thought was if we can get ourselves in position, who knows?"

With Rivera's foot on the gas, quarterback Cam Newton hit receiver Kelvin Benjamin on a first-down slant. But before he could get down, cornerback Marcus Peters stripped the ball out of Benjamin's hands.

Moments later, a 37-yard field goal from Cairo Santos dropped the Panthers to 3-6.