Chiefs beat Chargers 23-20 in OT: Insta-reaction from a Buttkicker Special in L.A.
We talk sometimes about margin for error, in all sports, but even for a team that recently won a Super Bowl while playing three purely meh quarters this is a pretty remarkable display of gargantuan margin for error.
Because, look, recency bias is a thing and maybe it’s a thing right here with these words, but here goes anyway: that was as bad as the Chiefs’ offense has looked with Patrick Mahomes.
They were crap, in many ways, most obviously with pass protection up front and rhythm in the back. They were outplayed, and we did not see this coming.
The Chargers’ all-world safety is out, and shortly before kickoff an injury to starting quarterback Tyrod Taylor meant rookie Justin Herbert — who presumably had little to no reps in practice this week — made his career debut.
The Chiefs went off as an 8 1/2-point favorite, and at one point late in the week 98 percent of the money was on the Chiefs. If you have a friend who said they expected what happened on Sunday, you should know your friend is a lying liar.
So, anyway, we’ve established that this was not the Chiefs’ best game.
We should also mention that — aside from a terrible idea executed poorly on Herbert’s interception — the Chargers played pretty well.
All of that is true. So is this: the Chiefs won 23-20, in overtime, on a 58-yard field goal by Harrison Butker.
There’s a lot to get to now, and we’ll do some of it here, more in the second game column in a few hours, and plenty more in the days ahead of one of the league’s most anticipated games of the year — Chiefs-Ravens, at Baltimore next Monday night.
For now, one thing the Chiefs are showing on what is now an 11-game win streak is that it is not enough to outplay them for a quarter, a half, or even three quarters. To beat the Chiefs you need to kill them dead, metaphorically speaking, and even after you think they’re dead you better make sure.
This group is too explosive for a lead to be safe.
This group is too versatile for one plan to hold them down.
And by now, this group is far too confident and accomplished to believe any problem is too big.
The blueprint on beating the Chiefs is taking shape. You need to be able to create pressure up front without committing too many blitzers, take away big plays, and not turn it over on offense. Huge bonus points if you can run the ball, particularly late.
The problem with that plan is that few teams can create consistent pressure without blitzing, and even if you can, intermediate routes are typically open. Executing this requires talent, discipline, plus a little luck.
The Texans, Titans and 49ers walked part of the way last postseason. The Chargers just took it to the brink. The Ravens are next.
These are all good things for the Chiefs, but there are problems to address here, and problems that are going to be tested not just against the Ravens next week but throughout a difficult schedule that includes the Bills, Bucs, Saints and others.
The protection has to be better. That’s non-negotiable. There were instances of guys just getting beat one-on-one — Nick Bosa is going to do things like that — but they will likely talk this week about communication and Mahomes’ part in protection as well.
Whatever the solution, it needs to come fast, because the Chiefs can’t have their unicorn quarterback getting beat up like this every week.
No team in the league has more playmakers than the Chiefs, and those guys can’t collectively be this quiet.
The defense played relatively well, even grading on the curve of facing a rookie in an impromptu debut, but they also can’t be allowing drives to eat up more than 10 minutes of the fourth quarter.
The Chiefs won this game because they have overwhelming talent, a terrific coaching staff, and Patrick Mahomes. The 54-yard touchdown to Tyreek Hill was impossible to defend, with Mahomes escaping the pocket to his right and perhaps the league’s fastest man getting behind the defenders. The league includes one quarterback-receiver combination capable of that moment, and the Chiefs have it.
From the Chargers’ point of view, there were also too many snaps where they had the pressure, and had the coverage, but Mahomes escaped it anyway and ran for the first down.
This is a weird moment, because the Chiefs just won a division road game with a strong finish, but there’s enough uneasiness to demand improvement.
Mahomes seems to have an answer for everything. So far, at least.
But if the Chiefs are going to continue to improve, part of that process will be coming up with more solutions ahead of time, so that Mahomes doesn’t have to come up with them late.
This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 7:07 PM.