The first week of the NFL season has officially concluded, and it started out with a bang on Friday night football with an AFC West Divisional matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and the Kansas City Chiefs.
The game was played in Sao Paolo, Brazil, marking the first NFL international game of the season. Both teams looked solid in their debut, but ultimately it was the Chargers— backed by a stellar performance from quarterback Justin Herbert— that came out on top.
The game opened up with a Chiefs drive that went nowhere, so the ball was turned over to the Chargers, who didn’t waste any time to get on the scoreboard. Third year former TCU wide receiver Quenten Johnson was huge on the drive with multiple big catches, including a touchdown to take the lead 7-0.
Uncharacteristically of the Chiefs, they would struggle in their next few drives, with each one being capped off by a punt or turnover. The rest of their first half drives would ultimately stall out: ending in field goals to make the score 13-6 Los Angeles heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Chargers weren’t able to make anything out of their possession, allowing Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs to go on the attack. The Chiefs capped off their drive with a quarterback run from Mahomes, but they would miss the extra point, making the score 13-12 Chargers midway through the third quarter.
There wouldn’t be much action for the rest of the third until about thirty seconds left, where veteran wide receiver Keenan Allen caught his first touchdown of the season after a year away from the team.
This made the score 20-12, but the Chiefs were able to answer with a classic Mahomes-Kelce connection for a touchdown; however, they failed to convert the two-point conversion, making the score 20-18 with ten minutes to go in the 4th.
Herbert and the Chargers didn’t shy away from the big moment though, as they responded with another Quenten Johnson touchdown which was the end to a long, sustained drive. The Chiefs were able to convert on a field goal making it a one score game again, but their defense couldn’t get a stop when it counted, and the Chargers ran out the clock.
This game was an impressive win for Coach Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, and showed how good they can be this year. Is this the season the Chargers finally succeed in the playoffs?
Only time will tell.