Chiefs Lose on a 2-Point Conversion
by the Chargers, 29-28
by Laddie Morse | December 14, 2018
After sprinting out to a 14-0 lead, the Kansas City Chiefs allowed the Los Angeles Chargers Philip Rivers to keep his team in the game until the last seconds when they scored a touchdown and a 2-point conversion to win, 29-28. Any time your team is up by 14 then get outscored 29-to14 the rest of the way, something is wrong.
On a night when the whole nation was watching, the Chiefs laid a rotten egg. Yes, Patrick Mahomes was good — throwing his 44th and 45th touchdown passes of the season — but the offense couldn’t move the ball when it was necessary allowing Philip Rivers the chance to march the length of the field against a Chiefs defense that wasn’t up to the task of stopping him. The Chiefs had a chance in this game to prove they were among the league’s elite teams but only proved their defense was so bad that they can expect to lose again once the postseason arrives.
Now, the Chiefs have a must win in Seattle, coming up in ten days, against a Seahawks team that is on the rise.
While the Chiefs face Seattle and Oakland in their last two games, the Chargers host the Ravens and travel to Denver to face the 6-7 Broncos. If K.C. splits and the Chargers win out, the Chargers will win the AFC West and the Chiefs will be forced to go on the road the first week of the playoffs. If L.A. loses to Baltimore and K.C. beats Seattle… then and only then… will the Chiefs be able to consider resting players in week 17. That’s the situation that a loss to the Chargers created on Thursday evening.
The Chiefs had 10 or more penalties in this game — AGAIN — which is inexcusable. The False Start Penalty on Demetrius Harris with 3:30 left in the game changing a 3rd & 8 into a 3rd & 13 resulted in Patrick Mahomes being sacked on the following play and ending that drive… and any chance of sustaining possession to keep the ball out of Philip Rivers’ hands. Chiefs and Penalties = Major Fail.
There’s no reason to believe that the Chiefs can suddenly minimize those penalties — and why would we think that they could — so, they’ll make another early exit in the playoffs in all likelihood.
In his post-game comments, HC Andy Reid said this is a “teachable moment.” Someone please gag me. I don’t want to hear about moral victories, what can be learned from a loss, or teachable moments. That’s all the Chiefs have ever been able to provide (for the past 48 years anyway). Certainly, the entertainment value of this team is as good as any K.C. team in memory, but… can they win a championship? Right now, it doesn’t look like they can win their own Division… and the Chargers look primed to seize control.
Patrick Mahomes may well end up being one the best QBs in the history of the game. However, unless a head coach — Andy Reid or someone else succeeding him — figures out how to build a quality defense, he could end up like Aaron Rodgers who’s won one Super Bowl but doesn’t look like his team is anywhere near ready to sniff a Super Bowl in the next several years, or for that matter before he retires. Or, Mahomes could end up like Dan Marino and be seen as one of the greats at QB… but never to win a Super Bowl.
The Kansas City Chiefs defense gave up 407 total yards to the Chargers. Only 4 times in 14 games this year has the Chiefs defense allowed less than 400 yards in a game, but 3 times they’ve allowed more than 500 total yards in a game. As good as Patrick Mahomes has been for the offense, the Chiefs defense has allowed the opposition to create more total yards in exactly half their games: 7-to-7. A work in futility for Mr. Mahomes.
Can the Chiefs win in the playoffs with a defense this bad? That’s highly debatable. Patrick Mahomes may be good but he shouldn’t have to make up for a defense that horrendous so often. In this game, the Chargers decided to go for a 2-point conversion and keep the ball out of Mahomes’ hands… and that’s exactly what they did. There’s no way Patrick Mahomes can be expected to go win a game when his defense can’t get the ball back.
Eric Berry’s return what much ado about nothing. Tyreek Hill had 4 catches for 46 yards. Chargers coach Anthony Lynn said they wanted to limit Hill and they were successful. TE Travis Kelce had 7 catches for 61 yards and although he had timely catches, was limited in his big play ability: his longest catch was 16 yards. Chris Jones had 2.5 sacks, Justin Houston had 1.5 and Dee Ford provided 1 sack too but what do the Chiefs have for their efforts?Â
The running back by committee approach worked well for the Chiefs and Damien Williams and Darrel Williams produced 62 yards on 12 carries combined. It looks like those two will continue to grow into their respective roles and have some success but they will never represent the threat of their predecessor. Once again, Andy Reid used his RBs to run the ball in the latter stages of the contest when he was hoping to grab control of the game. However, taking the ball out of Patrick Mahomes hands late in any game should now be considered suicide. That was as big a contribution to the Chiefs lack of success in this game as anything the players did.
Sadly, this game seemed to feature the Chargers as the team to beat coming out of the AFC West… whether they win it or not. I was hoping to see the Chiefs show themselves as an elite team but, they simply could not do that. Patrick Mahomes may very well win the MVP Award in the NFL this year, but it will likely be all for naught. I’m sure you could ask any previous MVP winner if they’d trade their award for a Super Bowl ring and 100% of them will tell you “Absolutely.” The Chiefs brass needs to repair the team for the sake of impressing Patrick Mahomes so they can keep him happy. His contract comes up soon enough and if they’re serious about re-signing him, they must fix their defense.
On Thursday evening, the Los Angeles Chargers looked like the better team. Is there really anything more to say?
Now, it’s back to hoping. Once again, that’s all any Chiefs fans can bank on going into the playoffs: hope. A friend of mine asked if I was worried? I said, “What? Me Worry? I’ll just slip back into my coma-like half hearted hope. Pathetic. I know.” A Chiefs fan and proud of it!
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