As usual, it wasn’t a blowout.
But the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 4-0 on Sunday with a 17-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers opened the game with a 10-0 first quarter lead aided by a Patrick Mahomes interception. But Kansas City rallied to score the game’s final 17 points and overcame another season-shifting injury on offense to wide receiver Rashee Rice.
The victory extends Kansas City’s win streak to 10 games dating back to last season’s playoffs and regular season. It was the ninth win in the run that Kansas City secured via a single possession. Only Kansas City’s 26-7 win over the Miami Dolphins in the wild-card round was by more than eight points.
Rice suffered a knee injury in the first quarter in another blow to an offense that already lost lead running back Isiah Pacheco to a broken fibula. On Sunday, tight end Travis Kelce emerged from a cold start to the season as Kansas City’s top receiving option.
Kareem Hunt, who rejoined the Chiefs after the injury to Pacheco, took over as Kansas City’s lead back in his first game with the team since being cut in 2018 after video emerged of him attacking a woman at a Cleveland hotel.
The game got off to a dubious start for the Chiefs. Running back Cameron Steele fumbled the ball on Kansas City’s first possession. The Chargers converted the turnover into a 74-yard touchdown drive on their first possession for a 7-0 lead.
Then came a play that had the potential to send the game into a spiral for the Chiefs. It did result in the injury to Rice. Mahomes threw an interception on the first play of Kansas City’s next possession to Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton. Rice tracked down Fulton on the interception return and stripped the ball from behind. He injured his right knee as Mahomes dove in front of Fulton for a tackle.
Rice left the game with a knee injury that head coach Andy Reid described at halftime as “not good.” The Chargers maintained possession after Fulton’s fumble and converted the turnover into a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
But the Chiefs didn’t falter. Kansas City’s defense held Los Angeles off the scoreboard the rest of the way. The Chiefs’ offense responded with at 54-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie Xavier Worthy and then a third-quarter field goal to tie the game.
Then Mahomes led a 60-yard, fourth-quarter drive that ended with a Samaje Perine touchdown run to secure the final margin of 17-10.
It wasn’t a vintage win that’s necessarily expected of the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. But it was a win nonetheless that secured a 4-0 start and a two-game lead in the AFC West where the Raiders, Chargers and Broncos are all mired in a 2-2 tie.