The Kansas City Chiefs are atop the NFL once again this season following losses to Philadelphia and San Francisco last week and tied for the best record in the league at 5-1. After their Thursday night victory over Denver last week, the Chiefs got some rest during the previous ten days and are ready to get back to work when they host the Los Angeles Chargers (2-3) on Sunday afternoon.
The Chargers have had a rocky start to their 2023 campaign with just two wins on the season but have been one of the feistiest clubs in the league through six weeks. All three of L.A.’s losses this season are by a combined eight points, including their three-point loss to Dallas on Monday night, which came down to the wire.
The Chargers have shown they have a nose for the end zone, offensively, with the seventh-ranked scoring offense. Quarterback Justin Herbert has been stellar this season, throwing for 1,333 yards, nine touchdowns, and only two interceptions. Herbert has also done a better job pushing the ball downfield, averaging 8.9 yards per throwing attempt. That’s a sizable improvement from last season when he averaged 6.9 yards per throw.
One of Herbert’s top targets has been wide receiver Keenan Allen, who has the fifth-most receptions in the NFL with 49 for 519 yards and four touchdowns. Although Allen has not had a 100-yard game against Kansas City since 2018, the Charger offense still runs through him and will be the main vocal point the Chiefs will need to focus on defensively.
Luckily for Kansas City, scoring on them has been a challenging thing to do this season. No team has allowed under 22 points in every game this season, and Steve Spaguolo’s unit has allowed just 79 combined points this season, which currently ranks as the second-best scoring defense. The Chiefs have allowed an average of just 14.7 points per game.
The only thing the Chiefs need is for their offense to get its swagger back on offense, especially in the red zone. Kansas City had a field day statistically, racking up 389 yards of total offense against the Broncos last week, but were 1 for 5 in the red zone. If they’re going to take down the Bolts, Patrick Mahomes and company will need to do a better job at constantly finishing drives by getting into the end zone.
Still, the Chiefs have one of the most potent offenses in the league despite looking unlike their usual selves this season. Kansas City ranks fourth in the league in total yards, has the lowest 3-and-out percentage, and has the second-most plays of double-digit yardage (85).
The Chiefs offense will also be going up against a Chargers defense that has been all over the place statistically. Los Angeles has allowed 389 yards per game this season, the second-worst in total defense. Despite that, the Chargers have a monster pass rush with the third most sacks in the NFL, and edge rusher Kahlil Mack has been responsible for seven in the last two games. Los Angeles also sits atop the league in red zone takeaways with three.
Thus, as long as the Chiefs get the ball out quickly to avoid that L.A. pass rush, they should be able to take advantage of a defense that has struggled to hold teams at bay this season.
Kansas City escaped with a narrow victory the last time the Chargers visited Arrowhead, and they’ll look to do it again – more convincingly this time – as they aim to get their sixth win in 2023 with another victory over an AFC West foe.
