Three reasons to be encouraged by Chiefs win over Chargers
The Chiefs won a close one last Sunday against the Chargers, and that should be encouraging to Chiefs Kingdom.
The Kansas City Chiefs eked out a win on Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, a team that most experts believed the Chiefs would easily demolish. A surprise injury to Tyrod Taylor injected the early snaps with a high level of uncertainty on defense, and the offense struggled for most of the day against the Chargers vaunted pass rush.
Most of the takes I’ve seen following the game centered around a growing level of concern, especially given the biggest game of the early season looms large on Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens.
While the Chiefs have things they can work on, as all teams do, I’d actually argue there are a number of reasons for Chiefs fans to be encouraged by Sunday’s performance.
The Chargers play up and down to their competition
I wrote last week that I thought the Chiefs would likely roll over the Chargers. They played against a mediocre Cincinnati Bengals team in Week 1, and to be honest, they looked pretty bad. Tyrod Taylor is a long-time veteran, but he’s never shown the ability to carry a team. Thus, my expectations along with so many in the national and local media were that the Chiefs would handle the Chargers easily.
That’s not what happened at all. I think the reasoning is simple: everyone underestimated the Chargers. The Chargers have a ton of talent on both sides of the ball. On offense they have a three-headed monster in Keenan Allen, Austin Ekeler, and Hunter Henry, all three boasting Pro Bowl talent.
They’re even more talented on the defensive side of the ball. While I never underestimated the defensive line, as they boast some of the best pass rushers in the game, I was skeptical that the addition of Chris Harris would significantly impact their secondary. Newsflash, this secondary is excellent as a compliment to the Chargers defensive front.
The point is that the Chargers can play up to elite competition, given their talent, but they have a tendency to also play down to mediocre competition. This makes them somewhat hard to gauge. Sunday’s performance showed that, as have many of the last four matchups. While there’s a chance they don’t make the playoffs, they are easily an above-average NFL team.