Around the AFC West: Chiefs maintain supremacy atop division
By Ellen Mathis
Los Angeles Chargers
The Los Angeles Chargers “hosted” the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional showdown on Monday Night Football in Mexico City. The Chargers were looking to keep their heads above water in the AFC West and their playoff hopes alive. The stadium was packed to the brim with a healthy amount of Chargers fans (admittedly there were more here than the amount who show up at actual home games), but even they could not stop the inevitable.
Now, if you stick around and read this every week (shout out if you do), I am not great at predictions, but when I get one right, I’m going to shout it from the rooftops. I noted that Rivers throwing motion has looked terrible this week and that I questioned whether age had hit. Well, here it comes I WAS RIGHT. River threw four (4!) interceptions and looked uncomfortable and cranky all night. Glorious.
The game appeared much closer than it should have been thanks to a dropped fifth interception and penalties that led to a touchdown. In addition, the field was not great and the altitude certainly played a factor. Regardless, the Chargers dropped to 4-7 on the year and all but secured the fact that they will not be entering the postseason.
The one encouraging thing is that the Chargers have a chance to get healthy. Russell Okung missed the game with a groin injury and the Chargers are heading for their bye week. While there is essentially no chance the Chargers make the playoffs, they can certainly play spoiler in the coming weeks for those that might.
It will be interesting to see what the Chargers do with this bye week as there are so many questions surrounding Philip Rivers. He won’t get benched, but it certainly begs the question of where Rivers will be next year. I for one, will miss the facial expressions and tantrums if he isn’t an AFC West quarterback next year.