The Kansas City Chiefs won their 12th consecutive game against an AFC West opponent on Sunday as they beat the Los Angeles Chargers 24-10 in LA. It was a fairly ho-hum, routine victory for the Chiefs as they now have not only beaten AFC West opponents in 12 straight games, they’ve also beaten the Chargers in 7 consecutive games. The Chiefs’ dominance over the AFC West the last couple of years has been awesome to see. The key going forward will be taking that divisional dominance, and translating it into post season success. This win was not a pretty one by any stretch of the imagination. Despite forcing several turnovers, the defense did not have a good performance overall. They failed to slow the Chargers down for much of the first half, especially on the ground, and until there was 1:49 left in the game and Kareem Hunt broke the long touchdown run (pictured above) the game was very much in doubt. That being said, the Chiefs were able to pick off Philip Rivers 3 times, they did step up defensively in the second half, and the offense made plays when they needed to and they ultimately came away with a victory. Shout out to the Chiefs fans who made the trip to LA. The Chargers situation is a very sad one, and it was nice for the Chiefs to have their fans vastly out number the Charger fans 1500 miles away from Kansas City. My overall takeaways from this game:
- Kansas City is the most complete team in the National Football League – The Chiefs right now, granted it is just 3 weeks into the season, but right now they have the most productive running back in the league (Hunt); the highest rated quarterback in the league (Alex Smith); the 2nd most productive wide receiver in the league (Tyreek Hill); and a defense that dominates late in games when it matters the most. This team has enough talent to win it all, they just need to stay healthy and consistent in their play.
- Terrance Mitchell can play – Mitchell is a 4th year player out of Oregon. He played, sparingly, for both the Cowboys and Bears before making his way to Kansas City midway through last season. At the end of 2016 he brought some stability to the secondary and turned some heads with his play. This year, he’s doing more than turning heads. He’s proven he’s worthy of the starting job opposite Marcus Peters. He tallied 2 interceptions on Sunday (which brought his career total up to 3), and has successfully defensed passes in big moments in almost every game he’s been in as a Chief. He still has his flaws as a player, but he’s improving game by game, and he’s definitely shown he belongs in this league.
- Penalties MUST STOP! – With all the good, there is definitely some bad and the bad for the Chiefs is penalties. I put it out on twitter, but the Chiefs have been terrible about penalties this year. Through 3 weeks they are the most penalized team in the national football league. It’s very uncharacteristic of the Chiefs’ organization to be this undisciplined and this over-the-top in that category and I hope that we can solve that issue sooner rather than later.
At the end of the day, the Chiefs sit at 3-0 and have a days worth of extra rest this week as they prepare to take on the Washington Redskins at home on Monday Night Football! Purchase tickets to that game right here! The lack of attendance at Arrowhead for the home opener was upsetting to see. The Chiefs Kingdom needs to be in full force for the game this Monday. I highly encourage you to buy your tickets and come hang out with us at the game on Monday Night. As always, the Chiefs can be heard on Topeka’s Rock Leader V100 with pregame starting at 6:00 PM and kickoff to follow at 7:25 next Monday. I’ll discuss the matchup with Washington more in depth later this week as we look forward to the game.
GO CHIEFS!!!!
