Around the AFC West: Chiefs stumble and Chargers survive

Kansas City Chiefs

Sunday was a beautiful day weather-wise in Kansas City, but less fun for Chiefs fans as they watched the Chiefs fall to the Bills. The game was pretty exciting, but my impression coming off it was that no one really stood out as having a “good game.” The only person was JuJu Smith-Schuster who logged his first 100-yard receiving game for the Chiefs and scored his first touchdown as a Chief.

Other than JuJu, the Chiefs could get no pressure on Josh Allen, the secondary looked like it was getting burned pretty badly, the offensive line wasn’t giving Patrick Mahomes enough time, the run game was awful, and receivers could not get separation. Even Patrick didn’t look great tossing two interceptions in the game. I left the stadium thinking it was a fun game because it was close, but that neither team looked all that great. Maybe it was a factor of two teams beating the crap out of each other but maybe it was something else? Regardless, I am looking forward to seeing them duke it out in the playoffs. It seems inevitable.

We also saw the return of Harrison Butker. While he did miss a field goal and that probably had some influence on the end-of-the-game interception, he also set the record for the longest field goal in Arrowhead.

Fitting that he broke Matthew Wright’s record after he set it one week prior. Good to see him back and healthy, we just need to make sure we make all those field goals.

The biggest plus for the Chiefs is that they are about to get a big boost on defense. Both Willie Gay Jr. and Trent McDuffie look like they will make their return on Sunday. Willie is coming off the 4-game suspension and McDuffie is coming back from IR and the hamstring injury he suffered. Maybe this expresses why I am not horribly torn up about Sunday’s loss?

The Chiefs have been pretty good historically coming off losses and they are heading to a San Francisco 49ers team that is riddled with injuries. Honestly, it is a minute-by-minute game to see who is even going to be available. At the end of the day, the Chiefs should win this game if they can buckle down and stop the run on defense. If the offense can then get something going, this should be a fairly stress-free game. Here’s hoping!