Kansas City Chiefs Week 15: Five players to watch vs Chargers
By Ben Almquist
The Kansas City Chiefs take on a hot Los Angeles Chargers team in a key match-up for the AFC West title. Here are five players to watch this Saturday.
We are coming down the final stretch of the 2017 season, and the Kansas City Chiefs still control their own destiny for the playoffs. After a disastrous stretch of games that nearly squandered a 5-0 start, the Chiefs are now poised to finish strong. To do that, they will have to knock off a hot Chargers team this Saturday night.
After doom and gloom had spread throughout Chiefs Kingdom over the past several weeks, we finally got a reason to be excited again. Kansas City looked great last week against the Oakland Raiders. No, it wasn’t a flawless game, but it was clearly one that the Chiefs controlled from start to finish.
Now KC will have to come out and do the same thing against a Chargers team that has won four straight games. Many analysts consider the LA Chargers to be one of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. I take some issue with that given their easy schedule, but winning is winning.
Chargers/Chiefs game is in Prime time Saturday...which is a good omen for Kanasa City:
— trey wingo (@wingoz) December 13, 2017
- 4 and 1 this season in primetime games, averaging 34.4 points per game
- 3 and 5 in all other games in 2017, averaging 19.6 points per game
Division On The Line
You would not be wrong to say that the Kansas City Chiefs season could be decided this weekend. With the Chiefs and Chargers tied atop the AFC West this late in the season, this game is absolutely pivotal for the season. If Kansas City wins, they will likely take the division and be headed to the playoffs.
Kansas City isn’t technically eliminated from playoff contention if they lose this week, nor are the guaranteed to get in if they win. However, assuming no further surprises (I know, not really a safe assumption), the winner of this game is your AFC West champion. Pulling that off after their rough stretch in the middle of the season would surely give the Chiefs tons of momentum.
Of course the Chargers will be bringing their absolute best this week, and shouldn’t be a pushover by any means. However, KC has already shown they can beat this team. It’s time to step up and do it again, and prove that the Chiefs belong in the postseason.
To do that, the Chiefs will need some key contributions. These five players stand out as the most important to watch this weekend: