NFL football can do a number on a person mentally and emotionally. Some games end in thrilling fashion, and it takes hours, if not days, to come down from the elation you feel from your team winning. Others are so devastating that you fall face-first into a football-induced abyss of self-pity, and an immersive sense of loathing for most things grips you. And sometimes you watch a game so gross that you're likely in the shower, washing it off before the actual players, whether your team wins or loses.
The third sensation, or lack thereof, is precisely what most Chiefs fans felt after an ugly 22-6 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. What did we just watch? In a game where Kansas City showcased nearly every frustrating aspect that has lost them games over the course of the past few seasons—massive struggles in the red zone, turnovers in the red zone, special teams gaffes, big plays allowed on long-shot downs and distances—they still won by multiple scores. The Chargers showed nearly no pulse or fight outside of after-the-whistle tomfoolery all afternoon long. But somehow, the Chiefs still left the window open for the Chargers to sneak back into the game.
In a series of possessions that frankly illustrate the quality of this game pretty well, the Chiefs found themselves up 13 with about 10 minutes to go in the third quarter. Kansas City's next three possessions resulted in a turnover on downs, a three-and-out punt, and a missed Harrison Butker field goal. Surely the Chargers would find a way to make this a one-score game and keep things interesting, right? Right?
The Chargers were somehow more inept than the Chiefs, in that their corresponding four possessions went something like this: punt, punt, turnover on downs, fumble. If the Broncos and Seahawks hadn't put on the offensive clinic that they did on Thursday night, this game would be lauded as one of the worst offensive second halves in modern football. But when the measuring stick is Bo Nix, even the ghost of Justin Herbert can clear the bar.
There was not much to write home about in this one, but there's always something to take way too seriously from any game that you watch through a fanatical lens. Kansas City has some major bright spots, including the continued dominance of Kenneth Walker. Xavier Worthy appeared to arrive on the scene to relieve some of the wide receiver concerns that plagued Chiefs discourse during the bye week, and the defense finally got some pressure on an opposing quarterback. Those things, as well as the points below, give us plenty of uncomfortable water cooler small talk to occupy our early workweek efforts to avoid work.
Harrison Butker will break our hearts in January
It would appear that the only two specialists Dave Toub hasn't cursed yet at this point in the season are the Punt God and James Winchester, because Harrison Butker looks like he might be broken and might not be able to recover from it. Since 2023, Butker's field goal percentage has dipped dramatically, from nearly 95% in 2023 to 76.92% through six weeks in 2026—a career low.
Butker has struggled tremendously in an area that has traditionally been a strength: field goals over 50 yards. He has yet to make a field goal over 50 yards in 2026, and in his last 16 attempts overall, he has hit just eight. For a guy who at one time had a very strong argument as the NFL's best kicker, or at minimum its most clutch, this has been a pretty tremendous fall from grace.
This could end one of two ways. The Chiefs, sitting at 5-0, are a reasonably safe bet early on to be one of the AFC's playoff contestants. This is an overreactions blog, but I am not here to guarantee a Super Bowl appearance or tout the team's likelihood of hosting yet another Arrowhead Invitational, just to say that they'll likely be there.
Either Butker will get things figured out before the playoffs arrive and stir a new sense of confidence in his ability to be the Mariano Rivera of the NFL, or he will continue to struggle and give many Kansas Citians a reason to want to catapult him out of town at the conclusion of the season. The fact that this has been a slow-building trend makes me believe the latter is more likely than the former.
"Almost injuries" show us how scary the Chiefs depth is
There was a five-minute period in real time during the first half of Sunday's game when Travis Kelce limped gingerly to the sideline with a rolled right ankle, and shortly after, cornerback Nohl Williams was slow to get up with what appeared to be a dinged-up knee. This sequence of events was a sight that had to have had more than just the likes of the overreactions blog guy concerned.
Would the Chiefs' season be completely in the trash can if they lost Kelce or Williams? Well, no, not exactly. But the thought of not having either one of these guys immediately deflates the confidence that comes with a 5-0 start and makes the roster feel a little bit more like a house of cards, which is ultimately the overarching theme here. There are several players you could say the same thing about if they were to go down with an injury. Obviously, the NFL is a "next man up" league, but are Kansas City's next men in some scenarios going to be the guys who can carry the water for a deep playoff run?
Random pieces have stepped up and made semi-legendary contributions during past playoff runs, and that's not to say that guys on this current roster couldn't do it if push came to shove. But the prospect of losing Kelce, Williams, or several other guys makes me a little sick to my stomach when you look at what that would do to either side of the ball for Kansas City.
Mike McDaniel and the Chargers are, by and large, so cooked
Not just from a "he's going to lose his job" perspective. It appears that he has lost any ability whatsoever to call a productive NFL offense. In the offseason, the McDaniel/Chargers marriage was seen as possibly the best-case scenario for McDaniel as far as a football facelift goes. His time as head coach in Miami was largely a failure, obviously, despite having some of the most explosive pieces on offense of any roster in the NFL. The speed with which that team went from "next up" in the AFC to a complete rebuild was staggering.
Insert McDaniel's creative mind alongside the hard-nosed approach that Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh carries, and you've got a recipe for an eclectic offense the likes of which the league has never seen, right? Well, you were either going to get that or a complete juxtaposition in ideologies from the pants up that just wasn't going to work. And here we are, just a couple of short months after McDaniel and Harbaugh were seen late in Chargers camp debating handoff mechanics, with their season completely in the gutter right in the middle of Justin Herbert's prime.
This isn't just a McDaniel problem. The Chargers appear to have absolutely no drive this season. That could spell trouble for Harbaugh. His antics and style are much more suited for the college game, one that he just so happens to be ineligible to return to for quite some time after a little well-documented dalliance with espionage. With all the talk about the Chargers being a dark-horse Super Bowl contender and everyone waiting for Justin Herbert to "break out," the outcome that the dozens of Chargers fans are witnessing in 2026 has to be simultaneously puzzling and about as frustrating as it gets.
We have absolutely no clue who this Chiefs team is yet
I take that back. We know they can run the hell out of the football. But how many ugly ways can a team find to win a football game? The Chiefs have looked both like an offensive juggernaut and the early 2000s Baltimore Ravens offensively. They have looked like a unit on the defensive side of the ball that has no ability to get to the quarterback, but they have also looked like the early 2000s Baltimore Ravens at times. So is Kansas City a defense-first or offense-forward team?
We don't know yet, and that's not a surprise. While the roster remains largely the same, especially in terms of the leaders in the locker room, there is a lot of "new" on the field. Kenneth Walker is the sterling example of this, but if you sit back and look at guys like Peter Woods, Mansoor Delane, Nohl Williams, Jack Cochrane, Alohi Gilman, Jalen Royals, and Kahlil Benson getting real, consistent, meaningful snaps, it's easy to understand that it is going to take some time for this version of the Chiefs to establish a defined identity.
The good news? Kansas City is 5-0 with a matchup against the defending Super Bowl champions looming, as well as a trip to Denver to play a Broncos team that is almost certainly looking for some revenge after getting de-pantsed in front of the country in Week 1. If the Chiefs can get through those two games without a blemish on their record, the schedule softens significantly before the Weeks 12–16 gauntlet comes. Even if we don't know who they are by then, if they keep winning—even if it's ugly—who cares?
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