Day after tragedy, Chiefs find a way to win KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The fog that enveloped much of the Kansas City area Sunday morning dissipated a few hours before the Chiefs and Panthers took the field at Arrowhead Stadium. The sun broke through and the temperature surpassed 60 degrees on the second day of December as children tossed footballs in the parking lots while tailgaters grilled burgers and music blared. Just before kickoff, fireworks shot from the back of the stadium, the Chiefs' mascot raced up and down the field on an ATV, cheerleaders waved pompoms and military jets zoomed overhead. Other than a brief moment of silence dedicated to all the victims of domestic violence and their families, the game had the look and feel of a typical NFL Sunday. But for those affected by the events of the previous morning, when police say Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher committed suicide by shooting himself in the head outside the team's practice facility just minutes after he shot and killed his girlfriend, Kasandra Perkins - the mother of the couple's 3-month-old daughter - it was anything but a typical football game. "It was tough," linebacker Derrick Johnson said after the Chiefs' 27-21 victory. It really hit me this morning, waking up and not being able to talk to Jovan. I was really emotional going to the stadium. It's one of those deals where you think it's a bad dream, but the next day you wake up and it's still there and a reality. "Me and him had grown really close since he'd been on the team for four years," Johnson added. This is devastating. For both families, Kasandra's and Jovan's, my heart goes out. You just can't imagine what they're going through right now. As a team, we lost a brother. There was no escaping the tragedy, even in the locker room, where Belcher's stall was prepared like all of the other Chiefs' - his No. 59 jersey, helmet and cleats all at the ready. "When I walked in the locker room I didn't look toward his locker," starting quarterback Brady Quinn said. Then I sat down ... [and] looked across and I saw his jersey hanging up, his locker stall filled with everything, and that's when it kind of hit me. It was kind of tough to step back and gain focus [on] what the task was in front of us. More than anything, as players, we just wanted to try to come together as a team and bring some good to this situation. Two stalls down from Belcher's, friend and teammate Dexter McCluster wore a T-shirt memorializing Belcher as he explained how the Chiefs overcame emotions to remain focused on football and notch only their second victory of the season. "We just had to pull together and ... use the brotherhood we have," McCluster said. We see each other every day, and we had to lean on each other and hold each other up. Our main goal was to go out there to win for the organization, for the players and the coaches and for my main man. We love him. Quinn said the team plans to contribute money for a fund for Belcher's daughter. Quinn also said he plans to be more cognizant of the personal situations of those to whom he is most close. "The one thing people can hopefully try to take away is the relationships they have with people," Quinn said. When it happened ... I was thinking what I could have done differently. When you ask someone how they are doing, do you really mean it? When you answer someone back how you are doing, are you really telling the truth? Hopefully, people can learn from this and try to actually help if someone is battling something deeper on the inside than what they are revealing on a day-to-day basis. Chiefs Coach Romeo Crennel and the team's captains decided to play the game a little more than 24 hours after the apparent murder-suicide. Crennel and General Manager Scott Pioli were present when the 25-year-old Belcher took his life in a parking lot not far from the stadium. After Sunday's game, Crennel declined to discuss the suicide. It wasn't a pretty sight, so I'm choosing not to talk about it. I'm proud of the guys in that locker room and proud of the coaches and organization for having to deal with what we had to deal with and to be able to pull through it and show some character. For their part, the Panthers also had to play through the emotions of a tragedy that was on the minds of everyone in the stadium. "The only way to approach this is to try to go forward," Panthers Coach Ron Rivera said. I explained to the players what happened, and tried to get them focused on the game and then go from there. [The Chiefs] played an inspired football game. We have to give them credit because they suffered through a very difficult time and rallied as a team. The Chiefs had grief counselors available to the team at its hotel Saturday night, and Chairman Clark Hunt addressed the players. "It was a good thing that we had people to talk to," defensive end Shaun Smith said. That's the biggest thing - when you have problems you have to be able to talk to somebody. Crennel had called the team's leaders Saturday night to get their input on whether to play or postpone the game, and Hunt was in contact with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding the decision. "Romeo asked me whether or not I felt like we should play," said veteran quarterback Matt Cassel, one of the Chiefs' captains. I told him it was a healthy distraction for me to be able to get back with my teammates and family and get away from the chaos. You sit around and try to find reasons why, and there's never an easy answer. "This is what we do for a profession, but we're also human beings and know how precious life is," Cassel added. We're so sorry and our hearts go out and our condolences to the families of the victims. We lost a teammate, but at the same time there's a 22-year-old woman who lost her life and there's a 3-month-old child who is going to grow up not knowing her mom and dad. It's a tough situation. twitter @ChrisKuc