Undermanned Chargers lose to the 49ers, face the Chiefs on Sunday night

It is tough to win football games when injuries occur, but in the NFL when an injury occurs the saying

goes, "Next man up." The Chargers are testing that NFL theory this season with a rash of injuries. Last

Sunday Night game in Santa Clara against the San Francisco 49ers, the injury riddled, and undermanned

Chargers fought hard, but fell short in the end, losing 22-16 to the 49ers.

With the loss the Chargers slipped to 5-4 for the season. The win improved the 49ers record to 5-4 for

the season. The Chargers played the game without their two starting wide receivers, Keenan Allen, and

Mike Williams. Their starting left tackle is on the injured reserve list and their starting right tackle was

out with a knee sprain.

They have a backup wide receiver and a backup tight end on the injured reserve list. They have a

backup running back on injured reserve. They lost their starting tight end during the game to a groin

pull. That is just on the offensive side of the ball.

On the defensive side of the ball, during the 49er game, the Chargers lost defensive tackles Christian

Covington and Otito Ogbonnia to injury. Both were placed on the injured reserve and are done for the

season. Covington has a torn pectoral and Ogbonnia has a patellar tendon rupture.

To replace Covington and Ogbonnia, the Chargers signed defensive lineman Tyeler Davison to the

active roster from Cleveland's practice squad. The Bolts also signed defensive lineman David Moa to the

practice squad.

At his press conference last Monday, Charger head coach Brandon Staley would not use the injuries

as an excuse for the loss to the 49ers. "The reason why we didn't win the game, there was some

executional-type things in the game that prevented us from ultimately finishing that football game,"

Staley said. "But regardless of the circumstance, we're going to be a connected team and a tough and

rugged team that is going to try and figure it out. We make no excuses. That's how the whole season has

been for us."

The Chargers jumped to an early lead, taking the opening kickoff, and driving 75 yards in seven plays,

with the drive culminating on a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeAndre Carter, giving the

Chargers an early 7-0 lead. The Chargers added three 2 nd quarter field goals from kicker Cameron Dicker

to lead 16-10 at halftime.

In the second half, the 49ers shut-down the Chargers offense, holding them to just 52 yards in total

offense and controlling the football for 21 minutes and 38 seconds of the 30-minute second half. The

49ers defense shut down everything deep in the second half and forced Herbert to throw check down

passes. The defensive line was forcing Herbert to get rid of the ball quickly. There simply was nowhere

to go with the football for Herbert.

The Chargers will now get ready to play on Sunday Night against the Kansas City Chiefs at SoFi

Stadium in Inglewood. The game will start at 5:20 pm and will be televised nationally on NBC. In his

Wednesday press conference, Staley talked about the difficulty of preparing for the Chiefs high-flying

offense. The Chiefs have the top ranked passing offense in the NFL led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

"The Chiefs have one of the top offenses in the league, and have for a long time," Staley said. "This year

is no exception. They have added some new players and really brought them into that offense

beautifully. They are playing at a high level, and they are very dangerous because they can beat you a lot

of different ways with a lot of different people. At the center of it all is [Chiefs QB] Pat [Mahomes]

running the show."

The Chiefs have a record of 7-2 and lead the AFC West by two games over the second place Chargers.

A win will essentially clinch the division for the Chiefs. With the plethora of injuries on the Chargers

roster, beating the Chiefs will be a challenge.