If the NFL season were to end today, the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers would both be playoff bound.
That’s a big difference from what we’re seeing in Denver, as the Broncos are tied with the third-worst record in the AFC at 3-6. With the Broncos on the bye, they couldn’t lose this Sunday, but they still did lose ground to both the Chiefs and the Chargers.
Kansas City kicked off the day with a 26-14 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Patrick Mahomes threw for two touchdowns and Kareem hunt ran for 71 yards, but it wasn’t about the Chiefs offense this week; their defense pressured rookie quarterback Josh Rosen with a furious consistency.
All told, Kansas City sacked Rosen five times and they pressured him on 54.5 percent of his drop backs. That was the highest percentage of the season for K.C. After jumping out to a 20-7 lead in the first half — led by the Mahomes to Tyreek Hill pair of touchdowns — the Chiefs were able to coast to the victory. They’re now 9-1 on the season, tied for the best record in the NFL with the Los Angeles Rams.
If the season ended today, the road to the Super Bowl would go through Kansas City. But, how long can the Chiefs sustain this success? They’ve started strong before many times and fallen off later in the season.
In the second and final AFC West game of the day, the Chargers (7-2) won their sixth straight game, beating the Oakland Raiders with ease, 20-6. Oakland actually jumped out to the 3-0 lead, but 20 unanswered points put the road Chargers ahead for the rest of the day.
Philip Rivers recorded a 223-yard, two-touchdown day and running back Melvin Gordon shined. Gordon enjoyed 93 yards on the ground, including a 5.2 yard per carry average, and he was the leading receiver with 72 yards and one score there, too.
Meanwhile, the repulsive Raiders (1-8) were held out of the end zone all day long and Derek Carr was sacked four times. One of those was a sack-fumble, forced by Melvin Ingram, ending a Raiders hopeful scoring drive at the Chargers’ 21-yard line.
Los Angeles, whose six-game win steak is currently second-best in the NFL, host the lowly Broncos at 2:05 p.m. MST next Sunday.