Chiefs continue their road dominance over the Chargers in victory

The dominance of the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West division never seems to end. After four weeks of NFL action, the Chiefs are 4-0 in the AFC West and have a two-game lead over the rest of the division after defeating the Los Angeles Chargers, 17-10 at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on last Sunday afternoon.

The victory was the Chiefs 11th consecutive win over the Chargers on their homefield. The Chargers last beat the Chiefs at home in San Diego in the 2013 season. The Chargers fell to 2-2 with the loss. For the Chiefs, it was their 10th consecutive win, all by eight points or less. The Chiefs just continue to find a way to win close games.

The Chargers were without both their starting offensive tackles in the game. Left tackle Rashawn Slater missed the game with a pectoral injury and right tackle Joe Alt missed the game due to a knee injury. Slater was replaced at left tackle by Jamaree Salyer and Alt at right tackle by Trey Pipkins III, who moved over from his starting right guard position.

Pipkins was replaced at right guard by Sam Mustipher, who was elevated from the practice squad to start at guard. Three-time All-Pro safety Derwin James was suspended for this game by the NFL and four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher Joey bosa missed the game with a hip injury. Quarterback Justin Herbert played through a high ankle sprain, which affected his ability to move and along with the Chargers makeshift offensive line limited his effectiveness.

Despite all of those hurdles, the Chargers took a 10-0 after the first quarter. The Chargers drove 74 yards in ten plays, scoring on a seven-yard touchdown from Herbert to rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey to give the Chargers an early 7-0 lead. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw an interception to Kris Fulton on the following offensive series, which he returned to the Chiefs 20-yard line.

The Chargers were in an excellent position to take an early 14-0 lead over the Chiefs. Unfortunately, a chop block penalty on Mustipher pushed the Chargers back 15 yards and that was followed up with a ten-yard holding penalty on Salyer. The Chargers were forced to settle for a 50-yard field goal from kick Cameron Dicker for a 10-0 first quarter lead.

The makeshift offensive line had cost the Chargers a shot at a bigger lead. That was a pattern that would remain throughout the game for the Chargers. The Chargers were held scoreless throughout the rest of the game, as the offensive line was unable to develop any consistency.

Herbert was sacked twice, both times by defensive tackle Chris Jones, and hit 10 times on 31 drop back attempts. Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh was asked about the penalties and his team's effort after the game at his press conference.

"Really proud of the way they fought, the way they kept playing," Harbaugh said. "You could use a bunch of guys as an example. I mean Justin was doing everything humanly possible and then some. About the same for the other 47 guys that were dressed in this game. [OLB] [Khalil] Mack, [LB] Daiyan Henley, [LB Denzel Perryman] DP, [RB] Gus [Edwards], [RB] JK [Dobbins], everybody. Nothing but respect for the way our guys played."

On the penalties, Harbaugh added that, "The pre-snap penalties, we've got to be better. I look at that as coaching and that's something I can do better with, have to do better. I look at penalties as under my responsibility."

Harbaugh appeared to make some mistakes in his utilization of timeouts and challenges in the second half. Harbaugh lost the first challenge of a completion to Chiefs wide receiver Justin Watson, a play that looked good live and on replay.

Harbaugh later failed to challenge a spot on a completion near the Chiefs goal line, but instead utilized a timeout to decide on the fourth down play from the Chiefs three-yard line. The Chargers decided against the easy three points and decided to go for the first down or the touchdown. The pass attempt from Herbert failed due to pressure from Jones. Harbaugh discussed his thinking after the game.

"I just wanted to make sure that we had the time to think about it, Harbaugh said. "I thought it was worth the timeout but in hindsight, if that thing was even close to actually being a first down and the replay assist didn't get it right, then yes I wish I would have just challenged it in lieu of taking the timeout. So yeah, stuff I can do better at."

The failure to score left the game at 10-10 early in the fourth quarter. From that point, the Chiefs just wore the Chargers down with their running game, scoring the winning touchdown on a two-yard touchdown run by Samaje Perine with 6:04 in the game to give the Chiefs a 17-10 lead, their first lead of the game. The Chargers gained one yard in offense on their next offensive series and the Chiefs ran out the clock.

The Chargers have a much-needed bye in Week 5, which will give them time to recover from injuries and time to re-evaluate personnel. They may need to look for help at wide receiver. The passing game is lifeless at this point. The Chargers rank 31st in the NFL in passing yardage per game at 136 yards. Herbert is too good of a quarterback to be ranked at the bottom of the league.

The Chargers have a top ten defense, and their special teams have played well. With a better passing attack, the Chargers might be able to finally close the gap with the Chiefs, who have won eight consecutive AFC West titles and appear to be headed for a 9th consecutive title.