KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Patrick Mahomes is inevitable. And while his Houdini acts have sowed anguish across the NFL for the better part of a decade, no team has known this truth more often than the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Chargers have the scars to prove it.
The Doink is just the latest wound.
A DOINK FOR THE DIVISION! IT’S GOOD! @CHIEFS WIN! pic.twitter.com/RtsINqo05m
— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2024
Jim Harbaugh is here now, and things are different, better. The Chargers are very likely on their way to a postseason berth. They are a more consistent team. They are a more resilient team. They are a more competitive team. But not even the weight of Harbaugh’s pedigree can stop the inevitable. Not yet, at least.
The Chargers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 19-17, on Sunday night at Arrowhead. The Chiefs have clinched their ninth straight AFC West title. They have beaten the Chargers in seven straight games.
It was Mahomes, with the ball, at the end. Again.
“Losing on the last drive is frustrating,” Chargers safety Derwin James Jr. said. “I’m tired of doing it.”
Mahomes and the Chiefs got the ball with 4:35 remaining in regulation, down by one.
They never gave it back.
The Chargers had their chances. The Chiefs faced a third-and-10 early in the drive. Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter dialed up a blitz. He dropped linebacker Daiyan Henley down the middle of the field to take away tight end Travis Kelce. Mahomes was in trouble. James up the middle, powering through running back Samaje Perine. Cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor off the edge. Mahomes looked to escape left, but there was defensive lineman Morgan Fox crunching the pocket.
Then came the magic. A leap. An acrobatic release. And a 14-yard completion to receiver Xavier Worthy.
Mahomes stays alive in the pocket and finds Worthy for the first down!
📺: #LACvsKC on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/2knKxtYtKh— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2024
“We didn’t capitalize on the moments,” Henley said.
Two plays later, a second-and-8. The Chargers had largely kept Mahomes contained to the pocket for more than 57 minutes. They had rushed hard, and they had rushed with discipline. Mahomes had scrambled one time before this play.
Mahomes took the shotgun snap. The Chargers dropped into man coverage, with linebacker Troy Dye spying Mahomes. The two rushers to the offense’s right side, Tuli Tuipulotu and Teair Tart, charged upfield. That created an opening. Mahomes burst through the window and sprinted to the sideline. Dye hit Mahomes out of bounds after the quarterback had gained the first down.
“Looking at the tape,” James said, “we’re going to be sick to our stomach.”
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Time ticked away. The Chargers used two timeouts to stop the clock. The Chiefs earned a fresh set of downs after back-to-back rushes from running back Isiah Pacheco.
The Chargers run defense held firm, stuffing two Kareem Hunt runs. The Chargers used their final timeout after the first run. The two-minute warning stopped the clock after the second run.
The game was in the balance. The Chiefs faced a third-and-7 from the Chargers’ 20-yard line. A stop and the Chiefs would be forced to kick the go-ahead field with time remaining for Justin Herbert and the suddenly potent Chargers offense. A conversion and this night would come down to one final kick.
Mahomes took the under-center snap and faked a handoff before sprinting to his right on a bootleg. The Chargers dropped into a Cover 2 zone — two players deep and five players defending the sticks across the field.
As Mahomes got to the numbers, Henley darted from his zone and went for the sack. Mahomes side-stepped Henley. A zone was vacated. Kelce, who had four catches for 36 yards before the play, settled into the opening. Mahomes dumped off a pass. Kelce caught it.
“I had a shot,” Henley said. “Took the shot. Got to be able to make it.”
Mahomes. Kelce. FIRST DOWN.
📺: #LACvsKC on NBC/Peacock
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/hLUBei2uwf— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2024
First down. Two kneeldowns later, kicker Matthew Wright’s 31-yard field goal clanged off the left upright and in for the winner as time expired.
“You’re hoping for a stop,” center Bradley Bozeman said. “You’re hoping for a slip-up on the Chiefs’ part. You’re hoping for something. You see the doink, and then it goes the right way for them. It’s unfortunate, but the ball bounces that way sometimes.”
With the Chiefs, it feels like the ball bounces that way all the time.
“When you’re going against great offenses, they’re able to do things and make plays when they need plays to be made,” edge rusher Khalil Mack said. “It’s just a matter of us making the plays when we need them, as well.”
The Chargers defense played a whale of a game. As Bozeman said, “You could not ask for more.” The unit kept the Chargers in it.
The offense was the bigger culprit.
The Chargers did not score a point in the first half. They had a string of three consecutive three-and-outs in the second quarter.
There were plays to be made, like when receiver Joshua Palmer was wide open on a post route on a second down early in the second quarter. Herbert missed him. It should have been an 82-yard touchdown.
“We didn’t execute the way we wanted to,” Herbert said. “Pass game, run game, we weren’t moving the ball well. And so that’s on us.”
The Chiefs’ 13-0 halftime lead seemed insurmountable, especially after Herbert sustained a left leg contusion on the second-to-last possession of the first half. He left the game for a play but he returned for the final drive. Herbert said he took a shot to the knee after escaping to his right on a third down.
“I should be OK,” Herbert said.
The resilience of the team showed up in the second half. The offense found life. The Chargers got the run game going. They scored back-to-back touchdowns to open the third quarter. They took the lead in the fourth quarter on a 14-play field goal drive.
“We pretty much flipped the script in the second half,” Harbaugh said.
But the first-half dud put the Chargers in too large a hole. The inevitable was coming.
“We didn’t finish the game, man,” James said.
Too many mishaps to beat a team this familiar with winning.
That included the kickoff after the Chargers’ go-ahead field goal in the fourth quarter. The Chargers attempted to pin the Chiefs deep. Cameron Dicker mishit the kick. It did not reach the landing zone. The Chiefs’ drive started at the 40-yard line. If Dicker had just blasted the kick through the end zone, the Chiefs would have started at the 30. Maybe those 10 yards make the difference.
“Rare mistake,” Harbaugh said of Dicker’s kick.
Sure, the Chiefs got the biggest bounce of the game. But the Chargers got their bounces, too. Like a 39-yard pass interference penalty on the second touchdown drive of the third quarter. And returner Derius Davis recovering a muffed punt deep in his own territory in the second quarter.
Maximizing the beneficial bounces is what separates winners from losers in this league.
“We just got to learn how to fight harder,” Henley said.
Another year. Another Chiefs sweep. Another Chiefs division title.
Another Chargers scar, courtesy of Mahomes.
“This one hurts,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll lay down and bleed for a little while. Not long. And then we’ll rise and fight again.”
(Photo of Patrick Mahomes eluding Daiyan Henley to complete a third-down pass: Scott Winters / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
