Reviews and Previews – Chiefs win ugly

Dec 13, 2015; Kansas City, MO, USA; Kansas City Chiefs fans celebrate against the San Diego Chargers in the second half at Arrowhead Stadium. Kansas City won the game 10-3. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

Once again we sit on Victory Monday as fans of a team that has won, continuing their streak and pushing it to seven wins in a row. Sunday’s game was an ugly win in the pouring rain with plenty of defensive heroics. The ugliness came mostly from the offense with their inability to score a lot of points.

The San Diego Chargers have a defense that is not exactly stellar but with their emotional leader in Eric Weddle back from injury and illness, they were able to hold the Kansas City Chiefs to 10 points. The heroics came from an unlikely source named Dee Ford. Most of the fans up to this point had seen Ford in a few games this year and were unimpressed.

Ford had 1.5 career sacks before Sunday’s game and not many more pressures. He consistently lost his way in coverage and could not fill the shoes of either Justin Houston or Tamba Hali. All of that changed against the Chargers when he was able to showcase his abilities against a poor left tackle. Ford finished the day with three sacks and numerous pressures on Philip Rivers. On the final play, he disrupted the throw from Rivers to Danny Woodhead to seal the victory for KC.

Moving forward the Chiefs are still in the driver seat for the fifth seed in the AFC wild card chase. They were able to get center Mitch Morse and defensive end Alan Bailey back in the lineup for the San Diego game but are still missing key pieces of their defense and special teams. Many hope for the quick return of returner DeAnthony Thomas who’s replacement has fumbled twice in as many games.

Thomas and the other walking-wounded aren’t the only issues that could derail playoff hopes however, the issues with placement and snapping on kicks has become more and more obvious as the weather gets colder. The Chiefs have missed two field goals and an extra point in the last two games due to the issues with either the snap, the hold or both.

While the Chiefs may have sneaked away from wins with these mistakes so far; Pittsburgh, New England, Denver and Cincinnati may not be so generous. Speaking of those potential playoff teams, let’s take a look at the week that was in the AFC West and the rest of the AFC playoff race.

Next: What happened in the West...