Blowing leads and losing primetime/playoff games must be imbedded into the very DNA of this franchise. The Los Angeles Chargers blow a 10-point lead and two quarters of domination as they lost to Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 on Thursday Night Football.
It must really stink to be a Chargers fan. This team has been choking primetime and playoff games for the better part of a quarter of a century at this point now. Whenever you think that the Chargers are capable of contending for a Super Bowl, or at least the AFC West Division title, they blow it through bad coaching calls or terrible mental mistakes.
Last season’s mental mistake was by second year (then a rookie) head coach Brandon Staley in the classic Week 18 matchup between the Las Vegas Raiders and the Los Angeles Chargers. The score was tied with 38 seconds to go in overtime. The Raiders, who had the ball, were content with running out the clock as if the game ended in a tie, both teams would make it to the playoffs.
However, Staley bizarrely decided to call a timeout on the final 3rd down of the drive, thus giving Las Vegas the chance to run the ball one more time and pick up enough yards to set up Daniel Carlson 47-yard winning field goal and eliminate the Chargers from the playoffs.
You’d think this team would have learned from last season’s heartbreak to not make such boneheaded calls/plays again when they faced their division rivals, and especially against the Kansas City Chiefs. Early on, it looked as if they had as they were dominating the Chiefs on their own home field.
The revamped Chargers defense, led by Joey Bosa, Khalil Mack, Derwin James Jr., J.C. Jackson, and Asante Samul Jr., smothered Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City offense all throughout the entire game, forcing Mahomes to throw early and often.
Derwin James Jr. really had a monster game with 9 tackles, a would-be interception (it was called back for a defensive penalty), and also body slamming Travis Kelce like you’d see in the WWE. It’s too bad the Chargers offense let down this defense as they did their job in holding Patrick Mahomes to only 20 points at home (considering he scored 42 against the Cardinals a week ago).
Anyway, speaking of monster games, Mike Williams balled out himself. With Keenan Allen out for the game, Mike Williams was elevated to Justin Herbert’s primary target against the questionable Chiefs defensive backfield. And, boy, did he deliver.
Williams had a 6 REC, 80+ receiving yards in the first half ALONE, with the next highest Chargers WR only having 2 REC. His best catch of the night came from a midfield bomb from Herbert, which Williams jumped up and mossed Chiefs’ DB Rashad Fenton to set the Chargers on the 1-yard line.
He was a beast all night long as he finished with 11 REC, 113 receiving yards, and 1 TD.
Furthermore, the ensuing TD pass from Herbert to rookie Alexander Horvath put the Chargers up 10-0 and I thought they were on their way to a blowout win over KC. The Chiefs defense just couldn’t stop Herbert (who ended up having a great game as he went 33-48 (69%), 334 yards, 3 TD) and Williams, while Mahomes couldn’t seem to get his offense clicking against the pressure from Mack, Bosa, and the rest of the Chargers D-Line.
It seemed like the Chargers were going to finally win a primetime game, one against the Kansas City Chiefs no less….but then Patrick Mahomes came to play.
On the very next possession after the Chargers touchdown, Patrick Mahomes drove the ball down the field into the Redzone, juked out two Chargers defenders, and side armed a pass past three other defenders to Mecole Hardman, who then walked into the endzone to get the Chiefs back into the game.
And then, after the Chargers scored another touchdown to go up 17-7 early on in the 3rd quarter, Mahomes dropped an absolute dime over J.C. Jackson’s head into the hands of Justin Waston, who took it to the house to make it a three point game again. Oh, I guess should mention that Mahomes threw that dime from the 50-yard line!
Both of those TD passes just show how UNREAL Mahomes is as he is, at least in my opinion, the most talented QB to ever play this game. Yes, Dan Marino had super arm strength, Peyton Mannings had the best QB IQ, Aaron Rodgers can make any throw at any angle, and Tom Brady has the most determination of any QB, but Mahomes just has something special that none of these legends possess: freak arm and body athleticism.
He can regularly make 50-yard bombs, no-look passes, and even left-handed passes, while also being able dodge and outrun the best pass rushers and linebackers in the NFL. It’s simply extraordinary and wonderful to watch.
Nevertheless, even though Mahomes ended up throwing for 24/35 (69%), 235 yards, and 2 TD, it wasn’t Mahomes who won this game for the Chiefs. It was his QB dual partner, Justin Herbert, who won it for them.
After Mahomes led a 10-point comeback to tie the game at 17, Justin Herbert and the Chargers got the ball back early on in the 4th quarter. Everything seemed like the Chargers were going to score again as they drove the ball all the way down to the 5-yard line when disaster struck…Herbert threw a goal line interception.
Completely missing his target, Herbert threw the ball BEHIND his WR, right into the hands of CB Jaylen Watson, the Chiefs 7th-round pick from last year’s draft, and he took the ball 99-yards to score a touchdown and put KC up 24-17.
It’s just comical how inept the Chargers can be at times. They had KC’s defense on the ropes as they were only FIVE yards away from putting pressure back on Mahomes and his Chiefs offense. If Herbert had not have thrown the worst INT he’ll throw this season, I know the Chargers would have won this game. They had all of the momentum.
Yet, that ‘Pick 6’ only inspired KC to go on and score another field goal, putting the game out of reach at 27-17, as the Chargers failed to pull off the comeback (though, they did score a last second touchdown from Williams) and lost 27-24.
Like I said at the beginning of this article, the Chargers franchise can’t help themselves from choking in the biggest games. And this game just proved it again as it reassured my prediction that the Chiefs will win this division for a seventh time.
PS: Amazon actually did a good job with the broadcast, pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. Kudos to them.
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