On Thursday night, the Kansas City Chiefs will play one of the most important games of the season, if not THE most important game. They will challenge the Los Angeles Chargers (8-5) to determine who will be leading the AFC West.
The Chiefs will be at SoFi Stadium on Thursday for a Week 15 meeting that will be crucial.
Both division rivals were heavy favorites this past Sunday and they both won. The Chargers opened a 37-7 lead over the Giants before winning 37-21. Kansas City swept Las Vegas 48-9.
However, the Chargers defeated the Chiefs at Arrowhead in September with a late touchdown. The intensity will be very high, and the rematch against the future two best quarterbacks Herbert vs Mahomes will be very exciting.
On Sunday, against the New York Giants, the Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert finished 23 of 31 for 275 yards and three touchdowns, one coming on a spectacular 59-yard connection to Jalen Guyton just before halftime. Therefore, they improved 8-5 and won three of their last four games.
However, the best news this weekend, apart from the humiliation they inflicted the Raiders, is that the Kansas City Chiefs made out of their division game without any injuries. Their Week 15 opponent, on the other hand, has some injury and COVID-19 concerns heading into a very important AFC West matchup on “Thursday Night Football.”
Yesterday, we just learned that Josh Gordon from the Chiefs has been put on the Covid List, and the news just came out that Chris Jones has entered the Covid protocol.
On a short week, injuries and the body’s recuperation are key for this Thursday game. During the Week 14 game for the Chargers, star RB Austin Ekeler was pulled from the game after he aggravated a prior ankle injury for instance. Let’s see who will be able to come back on Thursday night.
On the other side, the win against the Raiders was Kansas City’s sixth consecutive win and Kansas City leads the all-time series with the Chargers 64-58-1. They have a lot more confidence, the defense has improved so much since September, that we cannot even compare both games. The defense has shined in the past two months to get them to 9-4. They are sixth in scoring defense. They often carried the offense to win important games. They have only allowed more than 20 points once since Week 6 and that could make the difference in this game.
Additionally, Patrick Mahomes was spectacular against Las Vegas, completing 20-of-24 passes for 258 yards with two touchdowns. Kansas City’s rushing attack was also unbelievable finishing with 132 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Derrick Gore led Kansas City with 61 rushing yards, including a 51-yard carry for a score. The two games against the Raiders really showed another side of the Chiefs’ offense.
But Los Angeles has also one of the top young quarterbacks in the league, second-year pro Justin Herbert. The star QB is third in the NFL in passing yards (3,822), tied for second in passing touchdowns (30), and is second in QBR (67.5). Not bad at all! And it gives chills for the years to come!
The Chargers entered Week 14 as the only team to average 26 points per game scored and allowed. That is one of the issues in Los Angeles, their defense is very inconsistent, and has trouble restricting opponents. Which, against a “regular” Chiefs offense is very risky!
On paper, the Chiefs just have the more well-rounded team right now. Mahomes will be the key to winning their revenge game in Los Angeles and making up for his team’s Week 3 loss. If he can cut down on the turnovers, he’ll have the upper hand on his division opponent and can secure the Chiefs’ seventh straight win, as they lobby for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
The offense has definitely improved in key areas during this season, and their coaches have insisted on perfect execution and cut down penalties as much as possible. So far so good, I think they received the message.
“Whether we’re running the ball or throwing the ball or catching the ball, you keep your focus on the job at hand,” Andy Reid again emphasized. “It doesn’t matter if you’re up to or down — you’ve got to keep going. Consistency against zone defenses becomes important. You might not have all the long shots, but you got to be able to put a drive together. And that’s a tough thing to do in this league consistently.”
Hill led the Chiefs in receptions (4) and receiving yards (76) in the game while recording some personal accomplishments in the process. The veteran pass-catcher surpassed 1,000 receiving yards on Sunday, the fourth campaign of his career with 1,000+ receiving yards.
Some say Patrick Mahomes was broken, and the team seemed in big trouble throughout the season. The defense struggled as much as rumors about Spagnuolo began to swirl in the air, and the offense was unrecognizable with too many drops and turnovers. But they never gave up, they became even more of a team, they became a family. The Chief’s family has a championship swagger, and their performance against the Chargers will be key this Thursday for the remainder of the season.
