Los Angeles Chargers (10-3)
v.
Kansas City Chiefs (11-2)
Los Angeles Chargers 29, Kansas City Chiefs 28
This has been a brutal few weeks for me. I do not believe that I have ever worked as many hours, in such a short period of time, as I have in the last few weeks. So, when I got home from visiting my son yesterday evening, my energy levels were very low. Still, this was a big game - hell, a huge game with a ton of playoff ramifications - so I decided to tune in.
It was 7-0 in favor of the Chiefs late in the first quarter, but they were threatening to expand that lead. They did, when Darrel Williams reeled in an 11-yard touchdown pass from Patrick Mahomes, and Kansas City was just rolling, with a 14-0 lead. By that point, I kind of shrugged and thought that KC was well on their way to a lopsided win, and officially capturing the AFC West title. Perhaps that was why I fell asleep shortly thereafter. But before falling asleep, I did manage to see one impressive drive by the Chargers, which culminated in a touchdown in the second quarter, with Philip Rivers finding Mike Williams for a 3-yard touchdown pass. As it turned out, it would be the first of a few times that those two would connect, including twice for touchdowns last night. Arguably, the most important complete pass between the two was not a touchdown, but that final two-point conversion that gave the Chargers that one-point lead of 29-28, which wound up being the final score. Williams actually had three touchdowns on the night - two by air, and one on the ground.
But all that is later in my review. I am getting ahead of myself here. There was one final time when I woke up. It was late in the game, and Kansas City was ahead, 21-7, when Williams had his one running touchdown on a 19-yard run. The game was close again, at 21-14. After that, I went out for the night, passed out on the couch. Unfortunately, that meant that I missed a very exciting end to the game.
It happened in the fourth quarter, in the final minutes. The Chiefs were comfortably up, 28-14, when the Chargers capped an 11-play, 75-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Justin Jackson. 28-21, Chiefs.
A few minutes later, the Chargers were driving for what appeared to be a game-tying touchdown, which they got when Williams grabbed a one-yard touchdown pass from Rivers to cap a 9-play, 60 yard drive. Chiefs were up, 28-27, but the Chargers were going to get that extra point and force the game into OT, right?
Well, there is a philosophy about going for two-points for the win when you are on the road, and the Chargers obviously were. So, they went for two, and once again, Rivers found Williams in the end zone, shockingly all alone without a man within several yards for the amazingly easy two-point conversion, which put the Chargers up for good, 29-28, with four seconds left. There were no miracles left in this game, and the Chiefs were handed a stunning, and potentially crushing, defeat. If KC fails to win the AFC West now, and especially if the Chiefs would then either lose in the division round (which would have to be on the road) or, worse, in the Wild Card round, then people will go back to this game as an early indicator of the weakness that this team has, and which was largely not seen up to this point.
Philip Rivers had an excellent day that was not reflected as much in the stats, as he completed 26 of 38 passes for 313 yards, with two touchdowns and two INT's. Justin Jackson led the Chargers in rushing with 58 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries. But let us not forget Mike Williams with only one carry, but it went for a 19-yard touchdown. And Williams was awesome as a receiver, being the favorite target for Rivers last night, as he pulled in seven catches for 76 yards and two touchdowns receiving. Mike Williams was a huge part of the comeback victory for the Chargers, who are really starting to look like they belong among the serious elites in the league right about now.
In a losing cause for KC Patrick Mahomes completed 24 of 34 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. The running game was not great, with Darrel Williams picking up 49 yards on 10 carries, although he did have two touchdowns. Williams also led KC receivers, with six receptions that picked up 76 yards.
The win clinched an AFC playoff berth for the Chargers, who look capable of going in with a full head of steam. They have a chance - a real chance - at giving veteran quarterback perhaps his best shot at a Super Bowl, so you have to imagine that they may be really fired up at this point.
The Chargers still need to win out, most likely, if they are to win the AFC West, because they need to have a better record than the Chiefs, who still hold a better divisional record at 4-1, to the Chargers 3-2 divisional record. But the Chargers will have a couple of tough games yet, as they host the Baltimore Ravens next weekend, and then close out their regular season at Denver. Meanwhile, the Chiefs will go to Seattle next weekend, and then host the Raiders to close out their regular season.
I am not sure if it is too early to state my own skepticism about these Chiefs. It is not that they have not been impressive, because they have been very impressive. Patrick Mahomes looks like the real deal. And there is simply no denying how explosive that offense looks. However, the Chiefs have a history of looking very good at points during the season, looking like a true elite, only to disappoint, ultimately, in the postseason.
Since first following the NFL as a little boy in 1981, KC has had a few seasons where they have looked mighty impressive. They emerged as a seeming powerhouse in the early 1990's, but never quite got it done. They came fairly close in 1993, when Joe Montana was their starting quarterback. For much of the season, it looked like they could and would win a playoff bye, and perhaps get home field advantage. But they lost it, right at the end. Still, they won their Wildcard game, and then had an incredible comeback win at Houston, in the "House of Pain" when that Buddy Ryan defense was really snapping. In the end, though, the Chiefs got dominated in Buffalo, and they fell short of even making it to the Super Bowl, let alone winning that elusive title. They started off 3-0 with Montana again the next season, including a big early season showdown win against the San Francisco 49ers, led by the man who replaced Montana, Steve Young. But the Chiefs sputtered later in the season, and wound up 9-7, and out in their first playoff game, a loss to Dan Marino and the Miami Dolphins. Really, when people remember the Montana era - which was only two seasons - in Kansas City, they remember that 1993 season, and what might have been.
Hell, if you cannot even reach the Super Bowl with someone like Joe Montana behind the center, then you likely are not going to reach, much less win, the Super Bowl, period. They had their chance, particularly in that 1993 season, but they fell short. Still, in my lifetime, KC has not had as successful a postseason as that. They won two games, one on the road, and made it to the AFC title game. That was the only time that I have ever seen them go that far, or win that many games, in January. And still, it was not enough for them to even reach the Super Bowl.
A couple of seasons after that 1993 season, Kansas City looked like the clear cut favorites for the AFC. They appeared to be the best team in the conference in 1995, and people were openly asking if they could beat the Cowboys in the Super Bowl, as they finished 13-3, which was the best record in the NFL that season. But the Chiefs lost their very first playoff game to the Colts. Two seasons later, in '97, the Chiefs again impressed everyone. They had a decisive 44-9 win against the 49ers, ending an 11-game win streak for San Francisco, and then shocked the Denver Broncos with a late season win to take over the AFC West. KC finished the regular season at 13-3, again the best record in the league (tied with SF). But this time, when they met the Broncos in the playoffs, they lost...rather predictably. By now, you are probably noticing a trend, right?
It was the same deal in 2003, with coach Dick Vermeil in charge. KC raced off to an undefeated 9-0 start, and finished the season at 13-3, the second best record in the league, behind the 14-2 New England Patriots. In the playoffs, their first and only game was a 38-31 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. Fully 10 years later, Andy Reid took over a lowly Chiefs team, and they raced off to another perfect 9-0 start, and their was discussion of a Super Bowl run. But then they lost their first game at Denver, and would lose to the Broncos again two weeks later. They finished the season 11-5, and in the Wildcard, they blew a 28-point lead that they actually held twice, and lost to...you guess it...the Indianapolis Colts. It was the second biggest playoff comeback in NFL history, behind only that legendary 32-point comeback by the Bills against Oilers.
The Chiefs started off 1-5 in 2015, having looked shaky ever since that playoff collapse to the Colts. But then, they won 10 straight, to become the first NFL team in history to recover from a 1-5 start to qualify for the playoffs. Then, they beat the Texans on the road in Houston, 30-0, and looked damn good in so doing. But up in Foxboro, despite fighting hard and looking impressive, they fell short to the New England Patriots. They earned the second seed in the AFC playoffs with a 12-4 record in 2016, but in the playoffs, once again, they lost their first game, this time to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They won the AFC West again last season, but lost right away to the Tennessee Titans in an upset.
So, you see, that is why I was not exactly rushing to post them as my favorites to win the AFC. That is why I have been waiting for someone to "surprise" the Chiefs, in a result that, at least for me, would not actually be all that much of a surprise. I kind of expected that at some point during the regular season, but I will admit to really expecting it particularly come January, when playoff time rolls around. It would be a surprise to me to see the Kansas City Chiefs reach the Super Bowl.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe Mahomes will be the man who gets them there. Maybe it will even be this season. It is just that I have kind of grown used to a lot of hype surrounding certain Kansas City teams during the regular season, and then seeing them get upset and/or suffering disappointing losses once the playoffs roll around. Eventually, surely, they will snap out of it. And don't get me wrong: I would like to see Kansas City succeed. I have nothing against them, other than they remind me a bit too much of my second favorite team, the New York Jets. They have long seemed to me almost to be like a Western version, or at least a Mid-western version, of the futile Gang Green teams that also have sometimes had quite a bit of hype, but always seem to disappoint in the end. Give the Chiefs credit, at least they are more regularly in the playoffs than the Jets. But in the end, they both have been to the Super Bowl an equal amount of times in my own lifetimes, and that number is zero.
As solid as the Chiefs have looked to this point this season, my best guess is that number will not change when a new champion is crowned in Atlanta come February, and last night's game felt like an early indicator of that.
My prediction: Inaccurate
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