If the Chiefs played in the Horse Shoes and Hand Grenades league they would be 4-4, as it stands right now the Chiefs are 1-7 after some last minute defeats to the Jets, Pats and Bucs. The Chiefs will travel to San Diego to take on another struggling team in the Chargers. The Chargers have one of the most talented rosters in the NFL but are 3-5 and in 2nd place in the AFC west.

The lightning bolts are not playing completely horrendous football, only one of their losses has came by more than one possession. Their defense has to be the most disappointing part of their season, ranking in the bottom third of the league in every major statistical category. With the defense underperforming to this extent general manager A.J. Smith fired defensive coordinator Ted Cottrell and replaced him with linebackers coach Ron Rivera.

It remains to be seen if Rivera will try to change up the Chargers defense whether it be switching the defense from a 3-4 to a cover 2 which he is more comfortable with or if he will employ more blitzes and be more aggressive than his predecessor Cottrell. To makes matters more difficult for Rivera who takes over a defense half way into the season, he will be asked to stop a Chiefs offense that has confused talented veteran defenses the past two weeks.

The Chiefs will no doubt try to continue their new offensive approach led by Tyler Thigpen who has thrown for 444 yards and 3 TD’s with no interception the past two weeks and Jamal Charles who is filling in for a injured Kolby Smith and suspended Larry Johnson.

All of the pressure for this game has to be on the Chargers they have struggled to stay alive in AFC west, they have already had one assistant coach axed and if they don’t get on a roll soon the might not be a factor for the playoffs. The Chiefs on the other hand are already out of the playoffs and have nothing to lose. Expect the Chiefs to come out as the Aggressor early in this contest and get the Chargers down early similar to what they did to the Bucs. If the Chargers try to phone this one in and come out flat they could be in for a long day, but if they come out and match the Chiefs intensity and let their talent take over there is not a lot of teams that can run with the Chargers when they are playing their game.

Keys to the Game

Gunther vs. the Big 3:

Gunther’s defense is ranked last or second to last in everything, after getting roasted on big plays by Darren McFadden, Roddy White, Muhsin Mohamed, Chris Johnson and Leon Washington, Gunther must be shaking in his boots trying to figure out a way to stop Phillip Rivers,

LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates. Even if Gunther can stop the Big 3 the Chargers have some electrifying role players in Chirs Chambers, Vincent Jackson and Darren Sproles. The Chargers have scored 28 or more points four times this season and have been held under 20 only twice. Gunther is trying to save his job for next season , a good effort against the Chargers would go a long way towards that goal.

Keep Charles in charge:

Last week Jamal Charles went for 106 yards on 18 carries against a stingy Tampa defense, this week the Chiefs have to feed the ball to Charles to keep the Chargers high octane offense off the field. While Charles is averaging a whopping 5.7 yards a carry and is only one big game away from passing Larry Johnson as the Chiefs leading rusher the jury is still out on him, Charles was brought in to be a change of pace third down back. Now with injuries to Kolby Smith and L.J.’s suspension we will have to wait and see how this track star can respond to being the featured back and the bangs and bruises that come with a 20 carry game.

Don’t play not to lose the game:

Playing conservative and playing not to lose the game has cost the Chiefs in back to back weeks, against the Jets they went away from the quick passing game that was working for them and against the Bucs they started watching the clock instead of making plays with three minutes left in the first half. Tom Landry used to say “keep running it till they stop it” that is exactly what the Chiefs need to do, too often the Chiefs run the ball just because they are ahead and start playing zone defense instead of being aggressive to keep the clock moving. If the Chiefs are lucky enough to get a lead they need to script the plays that worked for them and continue to run them until the Chargers stop them.

Injury Report

Brandon Flowers CB Thigh Questionable

Derrick Johnson LB Questionable

Turk McBride DE Shoulder Questionable

Patrick Surtain CB Quadricep Questionable

DaJuan Morgan S Thigh Questionable

Jarrad Page S Groin Questionable

Chargers Report

Jamal Williams DT Illness Probable

Chris Chambers WR Ankle Probable

Antonio Cromartie CB Hip Probable

Jeremy Newberry C Illness Probable

Weather Report:
Weather at kick off will be sunny and 65 degrees with a north westerly breeze of 13 mph.

Fianl Score:
Chiefs 27 Chargers 41

The Chiefs may be finally coming into their own and may be playing their best ball of the season but the Chargers cannot afford another loss. Coming into the season with Super Bowl aspirations, if the playoffs were today the Chargers would not be in. The Chargers are way too desperate to look past the Chiefs. If Thigpen and Charles play well the Chiefs can stay in it but when it is all said and done the Chargers are way too talented to not walk away with the W.