The Chargers have been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Everything the Chargers have done in the last two years has been about a mission to beat the Chiefs. The roadmap to their matchup on Thursday Night Football in Kansas City (-4) has more than a few stops.
When the Chargers drafted Justin Herbert in the top-six of the 2020 draft, they hoped he would be The Man to match the incomparable Mahomes shot for shot soon enough. To many, after throwing for over 9,000 yards and almost 70 touchdowns in his first two seasons, Herbert’s now considered one of the best players — let alone quarterbacks — in professional football.
When L.A. fired Anthony Lynn and brought in Brandon Staley, it was about finding someone who coached the game a little bit more aggressively. This was so the Chargers would be ready to go full-tilt against the high-flying Chiefs. Staley now seemingly puts the pedal to the metal in every favorable fourth down and/or clutch situation the Chargers find themselves in.
When the Chargers gave Mike Williams $40 million guaranteed, he would be Herbert’s long-term, big-play, big-target safety blanket in big games — such as every matchup where the Chargers face the Chiefs. With a hamstring injury to Keenan Allen sending parts of the L.A. skill groups into flux, the veteran Williams will now be Herbert’s primary downfield weapon against the Chiefs on Thursday night.
When they made the industrial pick magnet J.C. Jackson one of the wealthiest cornerbacks in NFL history, it was about finding a worthy partner for the all-world Derwin James. After all, James can’t give Mahomes headaches on his own, and someone’s gotta role play football air traffic controller with some clutch interceptions when No. 15 in red throws up a golden opportunity.
And when they traded for future Hall of Famer Khalil Mack, everyone knew why the living, breathing Star Destroyer (pun intended) would call Los Angeles home. Mack is a Charger expressly because he’s there to bully and harass Patrick Mahomes off his game. Sure, L.A. will take other exemplary performances — his explosion against the Raiders in Week 1 is one example — but make no mistake. Mack is wearing the glorious powder blues expressly so he can repeatedly drive Mahomes into the turf before the quarterback gets an inevitable chance to drive a dagger into the heart of the Chargers’ defense.
On paper, the Chargers might have the best team they’ve had talent-wise in years. But we saw L.A. slay Goliath last season in an early-year 30-24 stunner. Unfortunately for the Chargers, a tense mid-December matchup saw the Chiefs do Chiefs things, and Travis Kelce run around the L.A. defense like he was doing warm-up laps around the track, and it was back to Square One. Kansas City was on top of the AFC West again, and the Chargers were in the middle of a spiraling collapse.
The more things changed, the more they stayed the same in this heated rivalry.
Khalil Mack wasn’t a part of last year’s Chargers squad. So he doesn’t understand their past failures against their red white whale. As the defender told reporters in the Chargers’ locker room earlier this week, the pass rusher isn’t in Southern California for opening week moral victories over non-Chief entities like Las Vegas. He’s there essentially for two reasons. 1) To win the Super Bowl and 2) To beat Patrick Mahomes.
Those two goals go hand-in-hand:
“Nah, it doesn’t matter at all,” Mack said of what the Chargers’ opening weekend win means in relation to their visit to Kansas City. “You gotta understand that who you’re going up against is a championship-caliber team. You gotta bring your A-game every time. Looking forward to the challenge.”
The pick: Chiefs 35, Chargers 31
While I speak glowingly of the Chargers and genuinely think they can win the Super Bowl this year, the Mahomes-Chiefs are different animals to tackle. Even with some retooling, I think we’re talking about a Kansas City squad that could certainly make it five straight AFC title game appearances. They have a blue-blood track record, and the top player in the sport plays for them. Until further notice, the Chargers do not. On both counts. Mahomes and Co. are a proven battle-tested hypothesis. Herbert and the Chargers are a still-developing experiment.
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