New NFL season, same AFC West story. The Kansas City Chiefs swept their season series against the Los Angeles Chargers as they went into SoFi stadium and eked out a 30-27 victory, cementing their place atop the division again.
This game was the epitome of AFC West this past decade
. The three other AFC West teams bulk up in free agency and the draft, everyone believes one of them will overtake the Chiefs as they do little in said offseason, that said AFC West challenger loses a bunch of close games early on in the season as the Chiefs go on multiple winning streaks, and by the midway point of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs play said team and beat them to cement their place atop the division for another year.
A few years ago, it was the Denver Broncos, last year it was the Las Vegas Raiders, and this year it has been the Los Angeles Chargers. Three totally different teams, but each one of them three have met the same fate. They couldn’t beat Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs when it mattered most.
Sure, those teams sometimes put in great performances that takes the Chiefs the distance, which the Chargers did last night, but they still came up short…again.
Justin Herbert was nearly perfect last night as he went 23/30 for 280 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 last-second INT, helping the Chargers offense to gain 365 yards of total offense and score 27 points (the 3rd most KC has given up this season) on the Chiefs defense. He was zipping the ball around all over the field as Jordan Palmer caught 8 passes for 106 yards and 2 touchdowns and Keenan Allen had 5 receptions for 94 yards in his return game.
Aside from that garbage-time pick as the Chargers had no chance of coming back (I’ll get to why in a second), Herbert was flawless again for Los Angeles as he the sole reason why LA was able to stay in the game for as long as they did. Its honestly incredible how inept and foolish this Chargers organization can be with Justin Herbert, who is a true generational quarterback, with the management they hire.
More specifically, the coaches they hire.
Brandon Staley is not the guy to lead the Chargers back to the playoffs, and he’s most certainly not the guy to finally get the Charger to the Super Bowl. He has some of the most boneheaded play calls in the most important moments that always cost the Chargers in the end.
In this game alone, Staley was the guy who didn’t go for it on 4th and inches late in the 3rd Quarter, which would have been easy to pick up for RB Austin Ekeler (19 CAR, 83 yards, 1 TD) or the 6′ 6” and 236 lbs. Herbert on a QB sneak.
Obviously, the Chiefs took this golden opportunity and drove the ball 93-yards to score a touchdown through the second Mahomes-Kelce connection of the game, giving KC a 23-20 and sucking the momentum out of the Chargers for the rest of the half.
Then, when the game was 30-27 after Patrick Mahomes led the Chiefs down the field and into the endzone in under a minute, Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense had 31 seconds, 3 timeouts, and the entire stadium cheering them on as they only needed to pick up 38 yards to set up a game-tying field goal attempt.
So, what did Staley sign off on for a 1st down call?
If you guessed a QB run on a defense that had already sacked Herbert four times, you’d be correct as that’s exactly what happened. Justin Herbert went to burst out of the pocket and pick up a decent chuck of yardage…only to get immediately stuffed by Chris Jones and sacked for a 3-yard loss and burn 7 seconds off the clock.
Is this Staley an idiot? Did he not watch the Dallas-San Francisco game last postseason? The Chargers had a perfect opportunity to run whatever play they wanted to as they not only were a mere 38 yards away from field goal range, but they also had three timeouts in the bank. The one thing they couldn’t do was take a sack.
Nevertheless, the Chargers would then throw that INT on the next play as Chris Jones and Frank Clark broke through the protection again and forced Herbert to throw early to Keenan Allen…who was in triple coverage. The ball was batted in the air and LB Nick Bolton swooped underneath it to pick it off and end the game 30-27 in favor of his KC team.
In other words, the same story in another season for LA. Yes, the Chargers (5-5) are a cursed franchise and have had some of the worst luck since its inception into the NFL, but Brandon Staley is actively adding to that curse with every game he coaches. Nothing will change until Staley is either gone or taken off play-calling/overseeing duty.
As for the Chiefs, what can I really say? They’re the best team in the NFL (yes, better than the Eagles).
Patrick Mahomes (20/34, 329 yards, 3 TDs) was again brilliant over an AFC West rival as he torched a Chargers defense that consisted of Derwin James, Asante Samuel Jr. Kyle Van Noy, and Khalil Mack, while Travis Kelce and the Isiah Pancho (15 CAR, 107 yards) exploded for huge games too.
Mahomes’ connection with Travis Kelce (6 REC, 115 yards, 3 TDs) is the very best QB-WR/TE duo the league has seen since Brady-Gronk as these two guys will always get the job done, no matter how difficult or how insurmountable the task seems. The Chargers will be the first ones to back me up on that.
If they both stopped playing today, they would not only both go down as 1st ballot Hall-of-Famers, but they would also be one of the Top-10 QB-WR/TE duos in NFL history. That’s how good they are.
The Chiefs (8-2) are obvious Super Bowl contenders and will take 1st place in the AFC as the Dolphins, Bill, Jets, and Patriots will tear each other apart for the AFC East crown, while the Ravens and Titans are just a step behind to seriously surmount a challenge.
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