Winners and Losers from the Chiefs' Week 4 Victory Over the Chargers

In the Kansas City Chiefs' Week 4 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, multiple players stood out for good and bad reasons alike.

Sep 29, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones (95) and Los Angeles Chargers center Sam Mustipher (62) battle at the line in the second half at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Another week, another close Kansas City Chiefs victory to help keep the team's undefeated record intact.

This time around, the back-to-back Super Bowl champs took down a battered Los Angeles Chargers team at SoFi Stadium. After some back-and-forth in the first half, Kansas City ultimately pulled away with a big-time offensive score and the defense shut the door on the home squad. It's a 4-0 start for the Chiefs, and one that left plenty of room for growth.

With that in mind, let's point out some of the Chiefs' biggest winners and losers from the fourth week of the regular season.

Winner: Chris Jones

Chris Jones, the unquestioned closer of the Kansas City defense, was fantastic on Sunday. Not only did the All-Pro defensive tackle get a sack to kill a Chargers drive late in the first half, but he also had another one late in the game to help bring things home. Jones's pressure of Herbert to force a throw in the final frame resulted in a turnover on downs. It's been a great start to the season for the CEO of 'Sack Nation,' and having another productive interior rusher like Tershawn Wharton (who had a good game in his own right) next to him surely helps the entire line.

Loser: Carson Steele

Carson Steele is a perfect example of how life in the NFL comes at you fast. A week ago, the undrafted free agent was coming off an inspiring performance on Sunday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons and seemed to be the unquestioned top option to replace Isiah Pacheco. This past weekend, he had just two carries on offense and one of them was fumbled. Head coach Andy Reid opted for Kareem Hunt (more on that later) for the rest of the game. Steele also got his wires crossed with quarterback Patrick Mahomes on a play extension in the passing game. Reid says he isn't down on Steele by any means, but his workload will be worth monitoring.

Winner: Matt Araiza

It isn't too common for a punter to end up in the "winners" section, but here we are again with Matt Araiza. He had his best game as a pro on Sunday, amassing 200 yards on four punts and landing all of them inside the 20-yard line of Los Angeles. Two of them were inside the 10, putting the home team behind the proverbial eight-ball to start their drives. The ability to flip the field is an important aspect, even in the modern NFL, and Araiza displayed to to near-perfection in the fourth week of the season.

Loser: Skyy Moore

Speaking of the fourth week, that's how long it took Skyy Moore to get his first target in the passing game this season. He logged a second one later on, although it was more of a throwaway by Mahomes. The one he did get a chance on, however, was a third-down pass that got dropped. If Moore's role is already in question, not converting on his only real opportunity thus far is not the way to solidify things. The former second-round pick continues to underwhelm in his Chiefs tenure.

Winners: Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy

With Rashee Rice suffering a knee injury early in Sunday's game, Kansas City desperately needed other options to step up in the passing game. Luckily for them, Travis Kelce and Xavier Worthy did exactly that. The former looked like himself in the box score for the first time all year, hauling in seven passes for 89 yards. Worthy, the Chiefs' first-round pick, took advantage of a rare deep ball thrown by Mahomes and caught it for a 54-yard touchdown. The long-term viability of these two should Rice miss serious time is questionable, but they kept the offense afloat during a critical time in Week 4.

Loser: Jawaan Taylor

Let's preface this by saying Jawaan Taylor has largely been nothing short of awesome in his second season with the Chiefs. His play isn't represented by his Week 4 performance. With that said, the veteran right tackle got beat by Bud Dupree for a sack in the first half and committed a pair of false start penalties overall. That, combined with a holding infraction, made for a rough game. The worry scale is still hovering around zero, though, moving forward.

Winner: Kareem Hunt

Many expected Hunt to have some sort of duty in the Kansas City backfield, but it's hard to have envisioned him looking as solid as he did on Sunday. The former third-round pick seemed to have a lot more burst than he did last year with the Cleveland Browns, and he amassed 69 rushing yards against the Chargers' defense. The Chiefs are happy with what Hunt was able to do on the ground and in the passing game and with Steele struggling, it's reasonable to anticipate a decent role for Hunt moving forward.

Loser: Patrick Mahomes

In a very out-of-character start to the season, Mahomes continues to play surprisingly poor football and is even holding the Chiefs' offense back at times. On Sunday, he overthrew an ugly interception intended for Travis Kelce and accidentally took out Rice on the same play. Mahomes's overall numbers were pedestrian – 245 yards, a touchdown and a pick – and advanced numbers like EPA per play (-0.08) reflect the same. His pocket presence is all over the place right now. Kansas City can clearly still win with this version of Mahomes, but they'll surely be hoping for better outings in the future.

Read More: Four Takeaways from the Kansas City Chiefs' 17-10 Win Over the LA Chargers