Kansas City Chiefs: 10 likes and 10 dislikes from Week 11 vs Chargers

6. Four Picks!

Tyrann Mathieu, Derrick Nnadi, Rashad Fenton, and Daniel Sorensen all picked off Rivers at some point during the game.

Nnadi’s came first with the Chiefs down 3-0 and the Chargers at KC’s 25. Mathieu’s came with the score the same, returning it 35 yards to the Chargers six, which was followed by McCoy’s touchdown run.

https://twitter.com/NFL/status/1196644356549038087

Then in the fourth quarter, the rookie Fenton picked off a heave from Rivers with the Chiefs clinging to a 24-17 lead with just over four minutes left to play. And the final one–well, we’ll get to that in a minute.

7. Pennel

I like this Mike Pennel guy. He should play more. The six-year veteran is a native of Topeka, Kansas (for which he is forgiven) and stands at 6’4″ while weighing a hefty 330 pounds. Now that’s a run stuffer.

He was inactive last week, but played again versus the Chargers, collecting three tackles, one sack, and adding two QB hits. With Alex Okafor and Emmanuel Ogbah out, the Chiefs will continue to play Pennel, and that looks like a good idea so far.

8. Bend-Don’t-Break

If we’re all being honest, the Chiefs should’ve been down a couple of touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Now, a pessimist would say the Chiefs only stayed in this ball game because the Chargers offense stinks. But I’m trying to be more positive these days, damn it, so I’m going with the opposite point-of-view: the Chiefs remained in this game because the defense, while it bent, didn’t break.

In the first half alone, on five of their six drives, the Chargers made it to the Chiefs 9, 22, 25, 8, and 31. Those drives ended as such: field goal, missed field goal, interception, field goal, and field goal.

Those defensive stops kept the Chiefs in this game, and fortunately, they were able to capitalize.

9. The Seal

On the Chargers final offensive play of the game, down 24-17 with 24 seconds left and at the Chiefs 14-yard line, Philip Rivers, who had thrown one touchdown pass and three interceptions on the day until this point, dropped back and looked for his favorite target of the evening, running back Austin Ekeler.

But Frank Clark beat his man and forced Rivers to step up in the pocket, speeding up the timing of the play. Rivers got the ball away, but he underthrew it, and backup safety Daniel Sorensen out-jumped Ekeler for the pigskin and the sealing interception.

Great play all around by the Chiefs defense, but especially Clark–who had a fantastic evening–and Sorensen–who, up until that final play, had struggled.

10. Winning Ugly

It says something about a team that can win ugly. Sure, I would’ve loved to see the Kansas City Chiefs smother the Chargers by a score of, say, 45-20. That’s just not the football goes, though. The Chargers have a lot of talent, and at 4-6 going into this game, were playing for their season. They weren’t going to lie down and take it.

Say what you will about Rivers: he’s never missed a career start since taking over for Drew Brees 100 years ago, and he’s just about always got the Chargers in position to win the game.

This was a great win by the Chiefs, holding on for a much-needed victory against a desperate Chargers squad.

Pretty? Nah.

But who the hell cares?