Why Los Angeles Chargers will beat Chiefs, why they won’t, and a prediction

Chris Roling | Dec 7, 2024

Denny Medley-Imagn Images

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Los Angeles Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers can put an exclamation point on their stance as contenders with a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14 on Sunday Night Football.

Not that it’s so easy, of course. Those Chiefs are 11-1, with Patrick Mahomes and Co. always seemingly finding ways to win games late.

The Chargers, meanwhile, have balanced Jim Harbaugh’s ship into a playoff contender since the Week 5 bye, winning six of eight games since. Now, they look like one of the few that could actually topple the Chiefs.

Here are a few key factors that explain why the Chargers will or won’t win on Sunday night.

Why Chargers will beat Chiefs

Harbaugh’s team is built for this. Cold-weather, hardnosed football with a splash of elite quarterback play? That’s them. Back in Week 4, the Chargers lost this matchup 17-10 but were missing a host of players:

DB Derwin James Jr. (suspension)
Edge Joey Bosa (injury)
OT Joe Alt (injury)
OT Rashawn Slater (injury)

The Chargers will have all of those players back—and Justin Herbert isn’t playing through an ankle injury anymore. The defense is still elite and overall, the team has gelled well after an overhaul to the front office and coaching staff.

Why Chargers won’t beat Chiefs

The Chiefs are the Chiefs. Cliche or not, they’re an 11-win team while Mahomes has his “worst” season to date. The ground game is pretty effective, five of his targets have two or more touchdowns and that running game could exploit a Chargers linebacker group dealing with injuries. This one also takes place in Kansas City and while the Chargers have been taking care of business, they haven’t played contenders of this caliber often and just looked super shaky last week, needing four interceptions (one that went back for a touchdown) just to beat the Falcons.

Chargers vs. Chiefs prediction

A loss won’t doom the Chargers’ season by any means. But it would earn some serious respect. If Greg Roman can dial up a balanced offense that plays a role in keeping Mahomes off the field, Jesse Minter’s defense is good enough to keep the Chiefs in check again. Expect Herbert’s newfound ability as a runner this year to be the major difference compared to the last meeting.

Final score: Chargers 23, Chiefs 21

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