SAN FRANCISCO -- Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez cried foul after Sunday's 17-13 loss to the 49ers.

As the game's highest paid and most dangerous tight end, Gonzalez is used to be being held at the line of scrimmage. What irritated him Sunday was the holding lasted more than 5 yards into his routes. His complaints drew fewer flags from the officials than Gonzalez had catches.

Gonzalez, matching up against 49ers linebacker Julian Peterson, caught only one pass for 6 yards.

"It's not fair," Gonzalez said. "They are playing within the rules, but it's up to the ref. The 49ers definitely had a plan to take me out of the game. They were putting Peterson over me and jamming me at the line of scrimmage. But when you jam, you have to let go after 5 yards."

Peterson gave a smile when confronted with Gonzalez's criticism after the game.

	“	He's a great athlete. He's the best tight end in the league and I like playing against him. I strive on competition and he's a Pro Bowler. Day in and day out, I just want to contribute. Coach gave me an assignment to go and take him, and I wanted to make sure I did just that. ”
		— Julian Peterson, 49ers linebacker on Tony Gonzalez

"You know, I've got 5 yards to hold," Peterson said.

Yeah, but Gonzalez said the holding went well beyond the 5-yard legal area.

"It's a game of inches," Peterson said.

If that wasn't bad enough, it was Gonzalez who had one of two critical holding calls that went against the Chiefs. Priest Holmes broke a 44-yard run to the 49ers' 9-yard line late in the third quarter. Replays showed Gonzalez barely had his hands on Peterson at the line of scrimmage, but officials saw it differently.

They flagged Gonzalez for holding, killing what could have been a scoring chance. Earlier in the game, tight end Jason Dunn was flagged for a debatable holding call that canceled an 11-yard Holmes touchdown. Instead of getting seven points, the Chiefs settled for three. Holmes, who had only 51 rushing yards on 11 carries, lost 55 yards on two penalties.

"We didn't get any calls today," Gonzalez said. "I couldn't have held with my right hand. My wrist is hurting and I can't hold anything. They can call holding on a lot of plays. There is a fine line but the refs can't call everything. But you've got to deal with it."

The 49ers used Peterson mostly in man coverage at the line and had a defensive back waiting for Gonzalez if he went downfield. It was a great matchup the entire game. Peterson, who is 6-foot-3, 235 pounds, matches up well against the 6-4, 248-pound Gonzalez.

"He's a great athlete," Peterson said. "He's the best tight end in the league and I like playing against him. I strive on competition and he's a Pro Bowler. Day in and day out, I just want to contribute. Coach gave me an assignment to go and take him, and I wanted to make sure I did just that."

Gonzalez is so gifted as an athlete that he's played in professional basketball summer leagues during the offseason. Coach Jim Mora Jr., the 49ers' defensive coordinator, sounded as though he was sending Peterson to basketball camp as he prepared him for this game.

For one, he instructed Peterson to follow Gonzalez's hips and not go for head fakes or shoulder fakes. Peterson followed instructions perfectly.

In the game's final drive, he knew at some point quarterback Trent Green would throw to Gonzalez. That finally happened on a fourth-and-11 from the 49ers 37 and the Chiefs trailing 17-13.

Peterson batted down the pass.

Gonzalez, having his pocket picked on the field, didn't want his wallet picked from comments made after the game.

"Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, I don't want to get fined," he said after the game. "To me, that holding call against me was a bad ball. Obviously, that was a huge play in the game and they want to call that holding? But when I'm going out for a route, hands are around my neck and on my jersey and they don't call that. This is just how it goes, and they can't see them all."

Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil was equally diplomatic.

"They obviously weren't holding because they weren't called, were they?" Vermeil said. "That's how you have to look at it in this business."

Vermeil instead was upset with his offense, which had averaged 32.4 points a game but was held to 13 points.

"We were not high powered today," Vermeil said. "We were not the leading scoring team in football today. We couldn't beat Jones Junior High today. We didn't get it done."

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.