Kansas City Chiefs Rewatch: 2010 week 1 vs Chargers

After a lackluster 2009 campaign, the Kansas City Chiefs hoped 2010 would be different. They opened the 2010 season against the Chargers on Monday Night Football and hoped to bring down the team who had owned the division.

The 2009 season flat out sucked for the Kansas City Chiefs, but when the 2010s began, we saw them absolutely beat down the Denver Broncos and keep them out of the playoffs to end the 2009 season. That gave fans hope that the 2010 season – Todd Haley’s second at the helm in Kansas City – would be better.

The Chiefs added some talent through the 2010 NFL Draft and also brought in Charlie Weis to help jumpstart things on offense while Romeo Crennel was hired to do the same on the defensive side of the ball.

The NFL always has two games on Monday Night Football in week one and the Kansas City Chiefs were chosen to compete in a Monday night game to open the year due to their stadium renovations. Not only were they on Monday Night Football, but they were actually the late game that year, which never happens these days, as usually that honor goes to a west coast team.

Their opponent to open up the season was the San Diego Chargers, who had a much different season in 2009 than that of the Chiefs. San Diego secured a first round bye in the playoffs, but were stunned by the Jets in the Divisional Round. They were Super Bowl contenders coming into the 2010 season despite releasing LaDanian Tomlison, who had been one of their all-time greats.

WEEK 1 VS SAN DIEGO CHARGERS: SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2010

Things started just like they did all too many times in 2009, as the Chiefs went three and out in less than a minute and punted the ball to their opponent. The Chargers then went on a lengthy drive that was capped off with the bad guys having to punt as well.

Kansas City did nothing with their next drive, going three and out once again. Fans in the stands groaned when Matt Cassel was taken to the ground, as it gave everyone flashbacks to the 45 sacks the Chiefs o-line surrendered in 2009.

The Chargers scored a touchdown on their next possession and Chiefs fans were thinking “Oh great, here we go again”, but things didn’t stay grim for long. Soon after, Jamaal Charles broke off a 56-yard touchdown run to tie things up as the rain started to fall in Kansas City.

The rain made playing conditions much more difficult with Brad Nessler and Trent Dilfer – who were on the call – noting that the field was becoming a problem. Fortunately, Derrick Johnson had no problem stripping the football out of Ryan Mathews‘ hands while Brandon Carr scooped it up and put KC in prime position to score. That drive was capped off with a Chiefs touchdown and they went up 14-7 in the second quarter.

With less than two minutes to go until half time, rookie Dexter McCluster took the punt return all the way for a 94 yard touchdown, which at the time was the longest return for a touchdown in Chiefs history. It was 21-7 at the half and the fans braving the elements were going absolutely nuts.

From there, the Chiefs offense couldn’t do much as the weather continued to factor in. There’d be only one more score added and it’d be a 59 yard Chargers touchdown late in the third quarter. San Diego had a chance to tie the game in the final minute, but couldn’t get the job done. The Kansas City Chiefs were 1-0 for the first time since 2005.

REMEMBER THAT GUY?

• After spending a year in Denver, Casey Wiegmann was back at the center position in Chiefs red.
• We mentioned Dexter McCluster’s big punt return, but this was also Javier Arenas‘ first game. He had some nice returns as well.
• Tony Moeaki caught Cassel’s lone touchdown pass and it was his NFL debut too.
• Eric Berry – the fifth overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft – made his NFL debut. Trent Dilfer at one point said “He’s a good one – He’s going to be a great one at some point” regarding Berry.

The Chiefs might have won this game, but make no mistake – Their offense didn’t play well. Matt Cassel threw for just 68 yards off of ten completions, but in his defense, the weather wasn’t ideal for passing the ball. Jamaal Charles had 92 yards and newcomer Thomas Jones had 39 yards, both off of 11 carries. These two carried the offense, but Cassel’s touchdown pass to Moeaki proved pivotal.

Even with the lack of offensive fire power, this was a fun game at the time it happened and it was still fun nearly a decade later – even with 17 total punts. The Chiefs defense impressed a lot of people in this one, especially with how poorly they played in 2009. The 2009 defense would not have limited the Chargers to just 14 points and been able to hold them off at the end of the game.

Holding them off was even more impressive when you consider that the Chargers had the ball on the Chiefs six-yard line and couldn’t get the ball into the end zone. That was all thanks to the KC defense, who were flying all over the field.

Starting 1-0 was a sight to behold for Kansas City Chiefs fans and considering this team went 4-12 in the previous season, the crowd in this game were LOUD and deserved to see their team win this game. It was one for the books for sure.