Chiefs 34, Chargers 28 (OT): Sam Mellinger’s final Insta-reaction on game for the ages
The Chiefs’ five-year chokehold on the AFC West is on the verge of turning six, and if they won the toughest game of the season despite themselves you have to start wondering what’s possible the rest of the way.
And not just in the regular season.
Playing on a short week and half a continent away from home, the Chiefs beat the Chargers 34-28 in overtime at SoFi Stadium on Thursday night.
They could have lost this game seven different ways and, if we’re honest, probably should have. The Chargers had their chances to put this away. You could say they Charger’d.
The Chiefs’ hopes for the No. 1 seed and AFC’s only bye are growing. At the moment, they hold what football people like to refer to as a half-bye after playing the week’s opening game.
They are the AFC’s first team to 10 wins, and with a three-game finish against the Steelers, at Bengals and at Broncos they are a real threat to win out. The Patriots play the Colts and the Bills the next two weeks. The Titans are at the Steelers and home against the 49ers.
This was a rock-fight that turned into a shootout, with the Chiefs scoring three touchdowns in the last 9 minutes of game time, and two in the last 2:31.
The margins are small, and now nobody will remember that an ill-advised throw by Mahomes turned into a highlight tip-and-catch interception by Uchenna Nwosu because they’ll be too focused on his scrambling (finally!) and throws to Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill down the stretch.
The Chiefs have not lost since before Halloween, and the view from the rest of the AFC has to be painted with fear. The two-time defending conference champions are playing well, and doing so in large part because they’re good enough to win without always playing well.
That’s a hell of a trick, and the Chiefs are pulling it off consistently now. Again, the margins are small — they always are in the NFL — but here we are within sight of the playoffs and the Chiefs’ games have this familiar feel now where both teams have an idea about what will happen.
They are showing they can win a rock-fight, and they have shown they can win with blowouts. At times, they can play a rock-fight for part of a game and then bomb points late.
There are a dozen ways they can win, and they’re playing well enough now that you get the feeling they might be able to show us all of them between now and the Super Bowl.
This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 10:56 PM.