Close games have been the rule for Monday Night Football this season. Nine of the first 13 MNF games have been decided by seven points or less. The record for most Monday night games decided by seven points in a season is 10, set last year.

The two clubs that will meet Monday night – the Kansas City Chiefs at New England against the Patriots – have also been accustomed to playing close games. Seven of the Patriots’ nine losses this season have come by eight points or less, while four of Kansas City’s seven defeats have come by four points or less.

For this game – the NFL’s first Monday-nighter in December – both teams have quarterbacks who have performed well in the setting.

Chiefs quarterback ELVIS GRBAC is 3-1 in his career on Monday Night Football and has won two of his three career conference Player of the Week honors on the basis of his Monday-night performances.

His first such honor came after a 382-yard, four-touchdown effort for San Francisco against Miami on November 20, 1995. His second award came after his first MNF appearance with the Chiefs (at Oakland on September 8, 1997), in which he threw for 312 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning score with three seconds remaining. In those two games, Grbac combined for a 68.4 completion percentage with six touchdowns and no interceptions for a 123.5 passer rating.

Patriots quarterback DREW BLEDSOE is 17-10 (.630) all-time in December/January starts. In those contests, he has thrown for 6,188 yards and 37 touchdowns.

With both clubs, turnover differential is likely to be a key to victory. Kansas City is 4-3 when it leads in turnover ratio and 1-4 when it does not, while New England is 3-3 when holding the turnover advantage and 0-6 when it does not.

More interesting notes on this week’s Chiefs-Patriots Monday night matchup:

• The Chiefs and Patriots meet for the third season in a row. They split the past two contests.

• Three of the past four meetings between the clubs were decided by seven points-or-less.

• The Chiefs have won 10 of their past 16 Monday night games and four of their past six December/January contests.

• Kansas City wide receiver DERRICK ALEXANDER has 654 yards and five touchdowns in his past six games.

• New England plays its ninth Monday night game since 1997.

• New England quarterback DREW BLEDSOE has a seven-to-three touchdown-to-interception ratio in three career games against Kansas City.

• New England wide receiver-punt returner TROY BROWN leads the AFC with a 15.4 punt-return average and could become the first Patriot since 1985 to lead the conference (IRVING FRYAR, NFL-best 14.1 avg.).