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Week 14’s edition of Sunday Night Football will take us to Kansas City for a matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and KC Chiefs. Both AFC West teams were victorious in Week 13, but one team had more controversy in their win. Let’s look back at each team’s victory in Week 13 before previewing what we could see this Sunday night.
Justin Herbert and the Chargers earned win #8 in Week 13 against the Falcons. However, it wasn’t a great win. The Chargers managed just 187 total yards compared to Atlanta’s 350. Herbert had just 147 passing yards, and J.K. Dobbins’ absence from the offense was clear as Gus Edwards totaled just 32 rushing yards. In the end, the Chargers offense failed to find the end zone. A team usually doesn’t have a great chance of winning when the offense doesn’t finish with a touchdown, but the Los Angeles defense bailed them out.
Kirk Cousins threw 4 interceptions, which continued to give the Chargers opportunities on offense. One of those picks was returned for a touchdown, which was Los Angeles’ only touchdown. Besides that, it was a busy day for Cameron Dicker, who had 3 field goals. It was a disappointing win, but a win nonetheless.
The Chargers are firmly in the playoff picture following their Week 13 win. However, it won’t get any easier with the Chiefs, Buccaneers, and Broncos as their next three opponents. The big question is: will the offense wake up in Week 14?
The Chiefs improved to 11-1 with their Week 13 win over the Raiders. With that said, they had a lot of luck on their side. The Raiders were down 2 points late in the 4th quarter and had one drive left to try and win the game. QB Aidan O’Connell led the Raiders downfield and into field goal range with less than a minute remaining before spiking the ball to stop the clock at the Kansas City 32-yard line. On the next play, disaster struck. There was miscommunication on the line, and the center hiked the ball without O’Connell looking. The Chiefs jumped on the fumble and won the game.
There has been a lot of luck happening in Kansas City lately. In the last 5 weeks, the Chiefs are 4-1, but those 4 wins have included beating the Buccaneers (who were without Mike Evans and Chris Godwin) in overtime, blocking Denver’s game-winning field goal, beating the Panthers by just 3 points, and then the Raiders fumble which resulted in a Chiefs win. Even though the Chiefs are 11-1, are they truly as dangerous as their record sounds?
For the first time in a while, Patrick Mahomes isn’t at the center of MVP talks. Mahomes hasn’t had the best season by his standards, with a 19:11 touchdown to interception ratio heading into Week 14. With that said, Mahomes has looked a lot better recently. He’s thrown at least 2 touchdowns in 4 of the last 6 games and will face a Chargers secondary that was shredded in November.
Last month, the L.A. defense allowed Will Levis to throw for 2 touchdowns, Joe Burrow to throw 3, and Lamar Jackson to throw 2. Expect Mahomes to take advantage of that struggling secondary and throw at least 2 touchdowns in this primetime matchup.
Keith is a sports writer who has evolved into a sports betting personality across social media in the past several years. He specializes in MLB but also writes about the NFL and NBA.