Chiefs Week 11 Recap: Chiefs 24-Chargers 17

Patrick Mahomes

Patrick Mahomes struggled in the first half. He had less than 70 passing yards and only helped the team to 5 first downs. Things settled down in the 2nd half for Mahomes. He looked better not just through the air but also managed to pick up three first downs with his legs. He finished the day with 182 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Some of the struggles can be attributed to Tyreek Hill injuring his hamstring at the start of the game, but for most of the day, Mahomes looked off. The brightest part of the day for Mahomes was that you could see he is starting to trust his knee more and more. He ran the ball five times for 59 yards. He doesn’t run a lot, but his team needed him to pick up the yards, and he was more than willing. 

Running Game

Despite two of the three touchdowns coming on the ground, the Chiefs struggled to run the ball. Damien Williams and LeSean McCoy combined for 18 carries and 64 yards. That is a measly 3.5 yards per carry. Williams’ day ended with a rib injury, and a little bit later, McCoy had his day ended with a head injury. Darrell Williams came in and ran four times for 7 yards. Despite the offensive line being healthy for the first time since week two, the Chargers were all over the ground game and made the Chiefs fight for every single yard.

Receivers

With Hill going down early with a hamstring injury, the passing game completely stalled in the first half. The 2nd half, however, was much better as Kelce and Mahomes started clicking. Kelce was held to one catch in the first half but beat the Chargers zone defense in the second half to the tune of six catches and 92 yards. No other wide receiver topped two catches or 30 yards.

Defense

The story of the day was the Chiefs defense. Frank Clark has been a bust in KC but came alive in his best performance of 2019. Clark hit Rivers three times, had one sack, and forced an interception by hitting Rivers as he was throwing the ball. The Chiefs managed to stifle the Chargers run game, which had been rejuvenated in recent weeks. Melvin Gordon was held to 69 rushing yards on 14 attempts. The Chargers wound up abandoning the run. That allowed the Chiefs pass rushers to pin their ears back and go to work pressuring Rivers. Rivers was uncomfortable all day, and the Chiefs intercepted him four times. Even a defensive tackle, Derrick Nnadi, got in on the interception fun.

Dramatic Finish

The Chargers still had a chance to tie the game with under two minutes left. They were driving downfield efficiently as all of Chiefs Kingdom collectively thought, “here we go again.” Then an unlikely hero arose. As the Chargers neared the end zone, Rivers dropped back to pass and threw a jump ball to the sideline of the end zone. Instead of the defense giving up the game-winning play, Daniel Sorensen made the game-winning interception at the goal line. It was a rare but sweet sight for the team.

Chiefs Remain atop the Division

The Chiefs have been sliding, so a division win was huge for the team. They remained in control of the division by half a game. It is a surprisingly tight race in the AFC West, and the Raiders are right on their heels. The Chiefs are going into their bye week heading into week 12. They then face the Raiders the following week. A defensive win against the Chargers was the confidence boost this team needed as they fight for the division in the coming weeks.

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