With it all slipping away from the Houston Texans — the playoffs, the promise of 2010, maybe even Gary Kubiak's hold on his job — Matt Schaub took over an NFL game like few men can.

This was the stuff of Peyton Manning, of Drew Brees during last winter's Super Bowl run, of John Elway back in the day. The Texans had no business beating the Kansas City Chiefs 35-31 at Reliant Stadium, no right, no chance after the way they played all afternoon. But a 29-year-old, happily-near-bald man wouldn't let them lose.

Shrugging off the doubts about what had been wrong with him this season, ignoring the fact that his own defense is so inept that the University of North Texas might be able to put up 20 points against it, Schaub went gunslinger. He completed 12 of 14 passes in one frantic stretch, pulled Houston back from 21-7 and 24-14 deficits, just kept firing darts at the Chiefs until Kansas City finally lost its grip on a game it would have already won against almost any other quarterback.

Even when the Chiefs absolutely leveled Schaub, they couldn't keep him down. Arguably his biggest pass of the game came the very next play after the type of crushing hit that always left Kurt Warner talking retirement. Still trailing 31-28, facing a 3rd-and-10, Schaub pulled himself off the ground and fired a 12-yard bullet into good coverage, placing it where only tight end Owen Daniels could come up with the football.

Then, Schaub found Andre Johnson (eight catches for 138 yards) for the go-ahead touchdown with 28 seconds left, setting off the type of jubilant celebration reserved for a team that's been pulled off its death bed.

This isn't basketball. One man is not supposed to be able to take over an NFL game. Only Schaub did. He essentially went Michael Jordan in the ultimate team game.

"We showed the heart of a champion," Texans running back Derrick Ward said.

No, what they showed is the power of an elite quarterback. That's all the Texans can be sure of. That their quarterback belongs with the best in the game.

Everything else is an uncertain mess. No 4-2 team in NFL history may have ever had more issues than Houston.

The Texans defense managed to make the Chiefs' trio of Matt Cassel (a 122.9 quarterback rating with three touchdowns), Dwayne Bowe (six catches for 108 yards and two touchdowns) and Jamaal Charles look like Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Roger Craig. Middle linebacker DeMeco Ryans tore his Achilles' tendon and is out for the season. Brian Cushing still doesn't look like the force he was before failing a performance-enhancing drug test.

But the Texans are a 4-2 mess with a bye coming up. That's huge. Schaub's gift comes in breathing room, in the ability to step back and analyze all the problems without panicking.

And make no mistake, it would have been full-blown chaos if the Texans had lost. They didn't. Because they have Schaub. No one understands that better than the coach.

"You can't win games like that in our league unless your quarterback is special," Kubiak said in his postgame news conference. "And our quarterback is special."