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Kansas City Chiefs 34, LA Chargers 28 (OT)
It was a huge AFC West divisional showdown between the first place Chiefs visiting the second place Chargers in Los Angeles on Thursday evening. KC were the obvious favorites, having won six straight games, and having established themselves very clearly as the cream of the crop in the division for over half a decade now. The Chargers entered as kind of upstarts, trying to dethrone the Chiefs, or at least continue to keep the heat on them, and prevent them from making catching up to win the division next to an impossible task.
KC got off to a hot start, scoring a touchdown in the first quarter when Michael Burton caped a 11-play, 95-yard drive with a seven yard touchdown run. The Chiefs added a field goal early in the second quarter, and seemed on the verge of taking the game over completely.
However, the Chargers played well after that and mounted a comeback. They answered midway through the second quarter with a one-yard touchdown run by young quarterback Justin Herbert after a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Later in the quarter, the Chargers had yet another impressive drive, a 42-yard drive of nine plays that finished when Herbert found Jalen Guyton for a four yard touchdown.
Suddenly, the Chargers were able to take a 14-10 lead into the locker rooms for halftime.
The third quarter was relatively quiet, with the Chiefs scoring the only points on a field goal, making it a tight game, with a single point separating the two teams. By contrast, the fourth quarter was truly explosive. Both teams scored two touchdowns, with the Chiefs successfully converting a two-point conversion of their first touchdown, in order to tie the game up after the Chargers had scored a touchdown early in the quarter to take a 21-13 lead.
However, the fireworks were really only beginning. The Chargers showed composure, led by their rookie quarterback Herbert, who looked more like a seasoned veteran. He led them down the field on an 11-play, 75 yard drive that ate up over five minutes and culminated in a touchdown for a late 28-21 lead.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, they left well over two minutes left on the clock. And for Kansas City, with Mahomes and the talent on that offense, and with three timeouts to work with, that was plenty. KC quickly marched down the field in eight plays, going 75 yards before Mahomes found Travis Kelce in the end zone to tie the game up again.
Both the Chargers and the Chiefs had drives that went nowhere after that, late in the fourth. But this game was destined for overtime.
Once there, the most important thing to happen, as it turns out, was for Kansas City to win the coin toss. They did that, and the offense made sure to make it count to the max.
Yes, the Chiefs marched 75 yards down the field yet again, this time in just five plays. The key play was when Mahomes found Kelce again open in the middle of the field. Kelce worked his moves beautifully, and the angles for the Chargers defenders in the area were all wrong. Hardly anybody could get close to him, let alone bring him down, and he ran it 34 yards to the end zone for the winning score.
In this game, Travis Kelce had a banner day. He has certainly enjoyed an impressive career to this point, but this had to have been the best and most memorable performance in that storied career. Kelce nabbed 10 receptions for a total of 191 yards and two key touchdowns, both coming very late in the game. He almost broke free for a touchdown earlier in the game, but was stopped just short of the goal line. Later in the game, though, he would get not one, but two TD’s. First, his touchdown catch late in the fourth tied the game and forced OT. Then, his touchdown catch in overtime outright won the game for his team. Most likely, Kelce’s touchdown also clinched the AFC West division title for Kansas City, for all intents and purposes. They improve to 10-4 on the year are now ahead by two games over the Chargers (and possibly the Broncos), with three games remaining. KC has a better division record than any other team in the AFC West, and they only have one game left with a divisional opponent when they go to Denver to face the Broncos in the regular season finale for both teams. Most likely, the Chiefs will have locked the division title up already by that point.
The Chargers, meanwhile, drop to 8-6. This loss hurt, as it compromises the safety of their status as a playoff team. They are half a game ahead of Denver, but will face the Broncos in a couple of weeks in a game that will very likely have huge ramifications for the AFC playoff picture. Both teams will likely be seeking a Wild Card spot, as it again seems likely that the division title is out of reach. That said, it surely is not impossible that both teams could wind up qualifying for the postseason, although that certainly remains to be seen.
Ultimately, this was truly a great game. Very entertaining, particularly the end, from an intense and explosive fourth quarter and overtime session. This was the last Thursday Night Football broadcast for FOX. Next year, the games will be aired on Amazon, which still feels a bit strange to me.
My pick: Accurate
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