KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Houston Texans took advantage of the beleaguered Kansas City defense when it mattered most.

Kris Brown kicked a 50-yard field goal with 2 seconds left for a 21-14 victory Sunday, keeping the defending AFC West champions winless. The Chiefs are the fourth team since 1990 to have made the playoffs the previous season and start 0-3.

The Texans put together three plays of 20 or more yards against the Chiefs in the fourth quarter. On the winning drive, Houston marched 42 yards in 2:16 to set up the field goal.

The victory came despite just 76 yards rushing against a team that gave up career days to opposing running backs in the first two games.

Priest Holmes played despite a sprained ankle, running for 134 yards and becoming the Chiefs’ leading career rusher. Holmes broke Christian Okoye’s record of 4,897 yards midway through the third quarter, on a 7-yard run up the middle.

But his failure to score from the 1 in the third quarter kept Kansas City from taking a two-touchdown lead – and resulted in a defensive score one play later for the Texans (1-2), when Marcus Coleman returned an interception 102 yards to tie it at 14.

Trent Green threw three touchdown passes for Kansas City, which is off to its first 0-3 start since 1981, when they opened 0-4. Last year’s team went 13-3 in the regular season.

Green’s third TD pass, to tight end Jason Dunn, put the Chiefs up 21-14 with just over 11 minutes left in the game. Green, scrambling to the right on third and goal, found Dunn all alone in the front of the end zone.

But Houston responded on its ensuing possession with David Carr’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jabar Gaffney, tying the game at 21. Andre Johnson’s leaping, juggling 37-yard grab over cornerback Eric Warfield set up the score.

Also on the drive, Houston converted on third-and-17 when Carr hit Derick Armstrong for a 20-yard gain to the Kansas City 45.

Green’s other TD passes went to Tony Gonzalez for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter and to Chris Horn – activated from the practice squad Saturday – for a 14-6 lead in the third.

Coleman tied it up on the long interception, returning it down the left sideline for the longest defensive touchdown ever given up by the Chiefs, and the longest in Houston’s two-plus seasons.

The Texans’ previous record was Marlon McCree’s 95-yard interception return against Tennessee last Dec. 21, while Buffalo’s Tony Greene returned an interception 101 yards against Kansas City in 1976.

Carr also threw an interception in the end zone, costing the Texans a chance to take an early lead and giving the Chiefs the ball on their first scoring drive.

Warfield, playing in his first game since his arrest Monday on suspicion of drunken driving, picked off Carr’s floater after the Texans drove to the Kansas City 10 for his third interception in two games.

Kansas City capitalized with Gonzalez’s touchdown catch, but Houston trailed only 7-6 at the half after Brown kicked field goals of 28 and 49 yards in the second quarter.

AP-ES-09-26-04 1706EDT