QBs McGloin, Litton battle for roster spot as Chiefs beat Packers in preseason finale
Earlier this week, Jeff and Joe Litton piled into a Jeep in Tampa, Florida to make the 18-hour drive to Kansas City.
The trip had two purposes: to watch Chase, Jeff’s son and Joe’s nephew, play in the Chiefs’ preseason finale against the Packers on Thursday, and to deliver one of the family cars to the Chiefs’ undrafted rookie quarterback.
If all goes well after Saturday’s roster cuts, Litton — and the Jeep — will be staying in Kansas City a bit longer.
“The car they drove up, I’m actually going to be using,” Litton said after the Chiefs’ 33-21 win. “They brought me their car. Hopefully I won’t have to drive that back.”
With the Chiefs resting their starters Thursday night, the preseason game against the Packers was the Litton family’s best opportunity to watch their quarterback. It was also the first time they were able to attend one of his NFL games.
For most of the preseason, Jeff has been caring for his wife Lisa. Diagnosed with lupus four years ago after beating breast cancer twice, Lisa has good days and bad ones.
But she joined Jeff and Joe for the trip to Kansas City to watch her son, flying in Thursday morning.
“I was making fun of her, calling her bougie because she took the flight while everyone else drove,” Litton said with a grin.
Before the game, Litton got to catch up with his mom for a couple of brief moments.
“It put a smile on my face just to see my mom just crying that I’m even here, that I’m able to keep playing this game,” he said. “Just being around her and seeing her and seeing her pregame, it really got me going.”
“Lupus is tough,” he added. “The mood swings, everything with her blood pressure. It’s tough. She’s the type of lady who you’re not going to know it’s hurting for her. She’s not going to show it. That’s not how she is. You never know. I always got to talk to my mom. She’ll end up telling me. She’s doing better. She’s here. She’s on both feet. I’m happy she’s happy.”
Motivated by his family’s presence, Litton completed 13 of 21 attempts for 166 yards. He played the entire second half, replacing fellow backups Chad Henne and Matt McGloin.
Though he never got in the end zone, Litton helped orchestrate three field goal drives in the third quarter to give the Chiefs the lead for good.
“Tonight, we were in the red zone too many times and couldn’t finish touchdowns,” Litton said. “But at the end of the day, we won the game.”
For Litton, though, the importance of Thursday’s game goes far beyond the scoreboard. As an undrafted rookie quarterback in a quarterback room that already has a veteran backup and a gun-slinging starter, Litton’s performance against the Packers will factor into the Chiefs’ roster decisions.
The 53-man roster will be finalized by Saturday at 3 p.m., and coach Andy Reid typically likes to keep three quarterbacks on his roster. If that’s the case, Litton is competing for one of the final spots against fellow backup Matt McGloin.
Litton and McGloin played the bulk of Thursday night’s game with McGloin taking over for Henne after the first series.
McGloin completed 10 of 18 passes for 127 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He even did his best Mahomes impression in the second quarter, opening his third series with a 62-yard bomb to rookie wide receiver Byron Pringle on a seam route. That drive ended a couple of plays later with a seven-yard touchdown pass to rookie Darrel Williams.
But after that scoring drive, McGloin’s night ended on a bumpy note as he had three incompletions in his fifth series, and his sixth ended with an interception in the end zone to close the second quarter. The final interception wasn’t entirely McGloin’s fault, however. He was targeting Pringle yet again on a deep pass, but Pringle stopped short of the goal line, making it an easy play for the two Packers defensive backs in the end zone.
Litton took over to open the third quarter and opened with the first of three field goal drives. In his next drive, he hit Pringle for a 40-yard pass that ended up being the receiver’s last as he went down with a hamstring injury.
“I thought they did a nice job,” Reid said of his quarterbacks. “Both of them. Matt having a little more experience, but Chase sure did some nice things. He saw the blitz, got it out of his hands, and knew where he wanted to go with it. Did a pretty good job.”
Now, all Litton can do is wait. He’ll find out sometime in the next 48 hours whether or not he has a future in Kansas City. To pass the time, he’ll get a lift in, analyze film and spend time with his family until they fly back to Florida on Saturday.
The jeep will stay behind, and Litton hopes he — and the car — are around for a little bit longer.
“Depending on how Saturday goes is if I’ll bring it (to Florida),” he said, “or hopefully keep it up here.”
Brooke Pryor
Brooke Pryor covers the Kansas City Chiefs and NFL for The Star.
This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 10:37 PM.