KC Chiefs: What we learned about the AFC West after Week 12

The KC Chiefs were the only AFC West team to secure a victory this weekend. What did we learn about the division in a very interesting slate of games?

This weekend essentially clinched the Kansas City Chiefs winning their fifth straight AFC West title (though it’s not official yet), as the other three teams all lost while the Chiefs moved to 10-1. There were no AFC West matchups this week, so there are four games to cover for the Week 12 edition of what was learned in the division.

The matchups were the Chiefs vs Bucs, Broncos vs Saints, Raiders vs Falcons, and Chargers vs Bills, so we had a nice variety of games this weekend in the division. Let’s take a look at what we learned about each AFC West squad after Week 12.

What did we learn about the Los Angeles Chargers?

The Chargers hit the road to face the AFC East-leading Buffalo Bills and fell by a score of 27-17. It was a sloppy game by both sides honestly, but the Chargers, in particular, were a total slop fest, especially in the closing minute of action.

Here’s what transpired – The Chargers were faced with a 4th and 27 with a minute remaining in the game and Herbert connected with Tyron Johnson for a 55-yard completion, setting up 1st and Goal from the Bills’ 2-yard line. With no time outs at their disposal, the Chargers opted not to spike the ball, but instead had Austin Ekeler run the ball for one yard.

Herbert then threw an incomplete pass, which stopped the clock with eight seconds left. A series of penalties occurred and then the Chargers had three seconds left on the clock and for some reason decided to run the ball with no timeouts. They wouldn’t have won the game had they scored a touchdown (they were down by 10), but at one point the field goal unit came on, then rushed off. It was a mess.

That leads to what we learned about the Chargers this week — We learned that Anthony Lynn is not a good coach. There’s no reason for a team surrounded with this much talent to be sitting with just three wins and we saw why this team is 3-8 after this loss. Lynn has made too many costly mistakes and while I hope the Chargers keep him around, this was probably the nail in the coffin for him.

Next up: The Chargers host the 5-6 Patriots in the late window of games. New England is trying to stay alive in the playoff race, so they’ll definitely be bringing their A-game to Los Angeles.