Game Report Monday Night Football Chiefs — Chargers
By: Just Ram Things
Tags: NFL, Monday Night Football, Chargers, Chiefs

Monday Night in Mexico City continued the important narratives in the AFC West this year. The Chiefs are one of the best teams in football and they are coached brilliantly on Offense and Defense by Head Coach Andy Reid and first-year Defense Coordinator Steve Spagnulo. The Chargers are a good football team, that has just forgotten how to win. They made too many mistakes in high-pressure situations.

Every Chargers’ offensive drive looked pretty similar tonight. They would gain a lot of yards on first down by leaning on Austin Ekeler and Melvin Gordon to run the football or complete short passes that were either behind the line of scrimmage or just across the line of scrimmage. They would then try to have Philip Rivers attack the thin air of Mexico City with long passes to either Mike Williams. The Chiefs defensive backs would utilize zone coverage or use the pass rush led by Frank Clark to force Phillip Rivers to make mistakes. Philip Rivers had 4 interceptions overall on the night.

The Chiefs used their so-called Legion of Zoom amazingly well today, even with Tyreek Hill being held out most of the game due to a hamstring injury. They had Mecole Hardman and Sammy Watkins going deep that created gaps for Travis Kelce to be open down the seam or the sidelines. Travis Kelce continued to build on another First-Team All-Pro season with seven receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown. This also enabled Patrick Mahomes to find running lanes if the pocket broke down. Patrick Mahomes had 5 rushes for 59 yards with his longest run going for 24 yards.

The Chiefs running backs were also able to find running lanes, with the lead blocking of the offensive line and fullback Anthony Sherman. The Chiefs overall rushed for 130 yards on 27 carries and two touchdowns. LeSean McCoy looked good in his 8 touches before he was taken out of the game due to an injury. The Chiefs were left with one healthy running back in Darrel Williams in the closing minutes of this one.

One player on the Chargers defense and one player on the Chiefs defense were the sole reasons this game was close heading into the final minutes. The Chiefs were led on the defensive front by Frank Clark. He was in Philip Rivers’ face every play and tipped so many passes. Frank Clark’s final stats for the day were 5 tackles, 2 solo tackles, one sack, three QB hits, and 1 pass deflected that was supposed to be a strip-sack. The Chargers' main star on the defensive end was Melvin Ingram III. He played his role perfectly and kept a check on Mahomes and the Chiefs from running up the scoreboard like they’ve been known to do in the past. The hybrid linebacker/defensive-end had 5 tackles, 4 solo tackles, 1 sack, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 pass breakups, and 2 quarterback hits.

The Chiefs led 24–9 late in the 3rd after Patrick Mahomes showed beautiful touch throwing an amazing touch pass to Travis Kelce. The game looked like it would be over before Philip Rivers finally showed off his hall of fame play and got the ball in the hands of his primary playmakers. He found Keenan Allen in the end zone and the Chargers were now only down seven points. Instead of going for a PAT, the Chargers went for two and Rivers found Hunter Henry in the end zone for a wide-open two. The Chargers were now down only 7 points with still a little less than 15 minutes left. Both teams were being stopped on third down and traded possessions with each other. Patrick Mahomes was sacked on a crucial third-down play right before the 2 Minute clock hit.

The Chargers would have one final attempt to score the pigskin and tie the game. The Chargers looked like they were down and out for the count, till Rivers turned back the clock and started attacking the Chiefs’ weakest defensive back in Daniel Sorensen. He found a diving Mike Williams to complete a 50-yard pass right on the sideline with a minute left. He hit Austin Ekeler with a screen pass that Austin Ekeler was able to run right into the edge of the red- zone. Then with the clock winding down, Rivers attemped to target Daniel Sorensen once again and throw the ball into the end-zone. Daniel Sorensen made an excellent catch to seal the game and give Philip Rivers his fourth interception.

Notes from The Game: Kelce might be one of the all-time greats at the tight end position. He’s in the running for his fourth straight 1000 yard season. Mahomes is so fun to watch. The game’s slowed down for him and he’s able to make these great touch passes and showed good poise in the pocket this game. Chargers looked good when they utilize their running backs and their short-yardage game. They were able to find cracks in the Chiefs defensive line and secondary, but they didn’t attack those cracks well. LeSean McCoy looked good with a week off. Could we see more NFL Head Coaches utilize load management in the NFL? Philip Rivers doesn’t have the arm he once had. The Chargers need to be smarter with their game plan. The turf looked like it caused a lot of problems in the first half.