KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Sometimes teams that enter the final game of the season needing half a dozen things to break their way get their wish.

The Kansas City Chiefs went around all week grumbling at themselves for failing to make the playoffs for the eighth time in nine seasons.

Now they're rubbing their eyes and getting ready to go to Indianapolis on Saturday, thanks to a 35-30 victory over Jacksonville and losses by Tennessee, Cincinnati and, most improbably, Denver, which fell 26-23 in overtime to San Francisco. That handed the Chiefs (9-7) the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs and a first-round game against the Colts.

First, the Chiefs had to beat Jacksonville, which they did, behind Larry Johnson's three touchdowns and record-breaking rushing day. Then they needed New England to beat Tennessee. Check.

Then Pittsburgh had to upset Cincinnati. Check again, after the Bengals' Shayne Graham was wide right on a 39-yard field goal try with 8 seconds left in regulation.

Then, 3 1/2 hours later after players and coaches had scattered to their homes and New Year's Eve parties, the most improbable leg of all in this farfetched four-team parlay came through.

It was a fitting tribute to Lamar Hunt, the team's founder, who died on Dec. 14.

Even Clark Hunt, the chairman of the Chiefs, wondered if his father was somehow involved.

"I've had some people in the locker room suggest that maybe my father hand a hand in that," the younger Hunt said after the Chiefs won.

"I don't know, we'll find out how well he does in the Broncos-49er game."

Quite well.

Johnson rushed for 138 yards and set an NFL record for carries in a season with 416. That erased the record of 410 set by Atlanta's Jamal Anderson in 1998. Johnson's 1,789 yards rushing broke the team record of 1,750 yards the durable 230-pounder set last year in only nine starts.

Jacksonville finished the season with three straight losses and wound up 8-8.

"This is where we put ourselves. To walk away, losing three games in a row, that ain't no good feeling," defensive end Paul Spicer said. "If anybody in here says this season was a success, they're lying to you. There's no way in the world this season was a success, after losing three straight games."

Johnson said he'd prefer not to have 400 carries "every season."

"It just means that I know I can carry the ball through an entire season and you have something to gauge me by," he said. "Now you know you don't have to worry about tiring me out because you know how far I can go."

The Chiefs' fourth touchdown came after Ty Law intercepted David Garrard's pass, and sent the turnover-prone quarterback to the Jacksonville bench for the rest of the game.

Law picked off Garrard on the 18 and returned it to the 2, and Johnson scored to put Kansas City up 28-10 with 12:08 to play.

Into the game came Quinn Gray, who had appeared in only one game in three seasons. He led the Jaguars on three touchdown drives, finishing the first two with nifty runs himself. Jacksonville pulled to within five points with 5:00 remaining on Maurice Jones-Drew's 5-yard run, but could get no closer.

"(Gray) did a nice job of giving us the spark and leading us to scores and giving us an opportunity," said coach Jack Del Rio.