KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It only took a trip to Kansas City for the New Orleans Saints to end their winless streak on the road.

Drew Brees, directing the NFL's top-ranked offense, threw for 266 yards and one touchdown against the league's worst defense, and the Saints beat the injury-wracked Chiefs 30-20 today.

Lance Moore had eight catches for 102 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown strike. It was the first victory in five road games for the Saints (5-5), who haven't played in their own stadium since Oct. 12 and had to count a win in London over San Diego as a home game.

Tyler Thigpen's second touchdown pass to Dwayne Bowe brought the Chiefs (1-9) to within seven points with 13:54 left. But Brees led the Saints on a time-consuming, 12-play drive that was capped by Garrett Hartley's third field goal, a 35-yarder, to make it a 10-point game with 3:28 to go.

A moment later, Thigpen was intercepted by Usama Young, ending a string of 161 straight passes without a pick. The former seventh-round draft pick, making his fifth start, was 19-of-38 for 235 yards and two TDs. He was also sacked four times, including twice by defensive end Jeff Charleston.

Running back Larry Johnson, who had been benched three games by the Chiefs and suspended one by the league, made his long-awaited first start in a month and had 67 yards on 19 carries. Johnson also fumbled twice. But the Chiefs, who have only one victory in their last 19 games and were missing four injured starters on defense, recovered both.

Jarrad Page intercepted Brees on the Saints' second possession. Thigpen connected with Bowe on a 6-yard TD pass nine plays later. Johnson took a direct snap on fourth-and-1 and kept the drive going with a 4-yard run, then Thigpen rolled out on a bootleg and found Mark Bradley for a 16-yard gain to the 4.

Thigpen connected with Will Franklin for 42 yards in the second quarter, then a short pass to Tony Gonzalez gave the Chiefs a first down on the 1. But Johnson failed on two tries into the line and Thigpen overthrew Bowe in the corner of the end zone. Kansas City had to settle on Connor Barth's 30-yard field goal that tied it at 10 until Hartley made it 13-10 with a 23-yarder on the final play of the half.

Courtney Roby's 54-yard kickoff return following Kansas City's first touchdown set up the Saints on the 44 and Hartley wound up kicking a 30-yarder.

On the ensuing kickoff, Dantrell Savage dropped the ball and got only a 5-yard return, After Thigpen was sacked, forcing Dustin Colquitt to punt from the back of his end zone, the Saints needed only seven plays to move 43 yards for their first touchdown.

The Chiefs blitzed from the left side and no one picked up Pierre Thomas out of the backfield as Brees flipped him a short pass that went for 24 yards. A moment later, Deuce McAllister scored on a 1-yard run.

The Saints took a 20-10 lead on their second play of the second half when Moore beat Ricardo Colclough, one of the cornerbacks the Chiefs signed two weeks ago, and streaked 47 yards for a touchdown.

After Thomas' 1-yard touchdown run gave the Saints a seemingly comfortable 27-13 lead, Thigpen sped 32 yards on a quarterback draw on fourth-and-2 to set up his 5-yard TD pass to Bowe.