Gametime: Monday, November 18, 2019, at 7:20 p.m.
Location: Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO
Network: ESPN
Radio (Kansas City residence): Chiefs Fox Football Radio Network KCFX (101.1)
After falling to the Tennessee Titans a week ago, the Kansas City Chiefs (6-4) prepare for division football on an international stage with plenty on the line when they take on the Los Angeles Chargers (4-6) at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City on Monday night.
What makes this a must-win for Kansas City, is if the Chargers come out victorious, the Chiefs will have the same record as Oakland heading into the bye week, giving the Raiders a chance to take first place in the division with a win over the New York Jets (3-7).
On one hand, Kansas City has won 23 of the last 25 games against their AFC West rivals and has won nine of the last ten meetings against the Chargers. However, no division game has mattered as much as tonight’s contest.
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes feels the sense of urgency his team has and said the main focus is to do a better job at closing games out and find a way to finish the season strong going into the playoffs.
“You have to feel the urgency,” he said. “You’re getting to the end of the season and things haven’t been going our way these last couple weeks and for us, it’s about finding a way to fix what we’ve been doing wrong this season and emphasize the stuff we’ve been doing well,” Mahomes explained.
Against the Titans, Mahomes dazzled like he always does and threw for 446 yards and 3 touchdowns. The 24-year-old is off to the best start to his career statically than any other quarterback in league history. In just 25 career games, Mahomes has the most passing yards, touchdowns, completions and the best passer rating in the NFL.
Tonight, Mahomes will finally be playing behind a healthy offensive line for the first time since week 2 with both left tackle Eric Fisher and right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif returning to the lineup from injury. This is great news for the Chiefs offense since they’ll be up against the Chargers dynamic pass-rushing duo in Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram.
Bosa has been on an absolute terror this season with 48 tackles (31 solo), 32 QB pressures, 19 QB hits, and 8.5 sacks. While Ingram has put together a solid campaign of his own with 27 tackles (23 solo), 12 QB pressures, 7 QB hits, and 4.5 sacks.
The Chiefs offense will also up against the league’s top secondary in yards allowed. L.A. has done a good job this season defending the deep ball and whether they’ll be able to keep Kansas City’s dynamic pass catchers at bay will something to watch in tonight’s matchup.
Offensively, a lot will be riding on quarterback Phillip Rivers to have a complete game in order for his team to pull off the victory. However, the Chargers have also given up 20 turnovers to Kansas City over the last 10 meetings and 16 were interceptions thrown by Rivers.
The future hall of famer also happens to be the third-most pressured quarterback in the NFL this season with 149 pressures and has been sacked 21 times. This is thanks to an offensive line that, like the Chiefs, has been banged up for most of the season.
According to Pro Football Focus, guard Dan Feeney has allowed 30 QB pressures which is the most in the league amongst NFL guards. While both of their tackles, Sam Tevi and Trent Scott, rank in the top seven most pressures allowed.
The Chargers woes at o-line is a huge opportunity for Kansas City’s pass rushers to harass and get after Rivers and force him into making mistakes. If they can do that, the Chiefs may have the game in hand.
Although, Los Angeles’ offense has a few tricks up their sleeve and no team loves to utilize their running backs out of the backfield in the passing game as the Chargers do.
This is also something the Chiefs defense has struggled against this season.
Running back Austin Ekeler leads the NFL in receiving yards amongst running backs with 559 yards out of the backfield and Melvin Gordon is back from his hold out earlier this year and putting up numbers since his return to the field and can be a real problem on the ground if he gets going early.
In order to get their season back on track and stay ahead of Oakland in the standings for at least another week, the Chiefs have to get points on the board early and not allow the Chargers to hang around like they allowed the Titans to do the previous week. If they can do that and find a way to close the game out with a strong finish, they’ll be in good shape going into the bye.
