Chiefs vs. Chargers: Why Kansas City’s defense will thrive in Week 2

The Chargers won’t be able to run the ball

The Chargers ranked 23rd against the pass and 25th against the run during the 2019 season. They added Kenneth Murray in the draft and Chris Harris in free agency, but they lost Derwin James for the entirety of the 2020 season. They’ll look a little different from last year’s defense, but I’m not sure it’s enough to make a dent.

The Chiefs, on the other hand, could potentially look significantly different. The offensive line on Thursday showed a physicality Chiefs Kingdom hasn’t seen for some time, and Clyde Edwards-Helaire piggybacked off that for a huge debut. The Chiefs offense is now clearly dynamic enough to score 30 while passing and 30 while running. I don’t anticipate them scoring less than 30 on Sunday.

If the Chiefs come out hot and put a couple scores between them, the Chargers will have to rely heavily on the pass. Maybe more pertinent, the Chargers ran the ball 39 times on Sunday and it resulted in one touchdown and three field goals against a fairly poor defense. That’s simply not going to work on Sunday.

Tyrod Taylor is a nice quarterback in his own right, but he’s not the type of guy you want throwing the ball 30 or more times a game. Unfortunately, it’s likely they’ll need him to.

Conclusion

In the end, Sunday will likely be the tale of a team in the Chiefs that is simply too talented and too well-coached to not dominate a team in transition like the Chargers. The Chiefs should be able to put up a significant number of points against the Chargers, and history doesn’t bode well for Tyrod Taylor and the Chargers offense meeting the challenge.