I have heard people talking about how the Chiefs' win over SD was a fluke. They use the rain, Jamaal Charles' breakaway run, the numbers on offense, and Dexter McCluster's punt return for a TD as reason why the game was a fluke. 

1. The Chiefs made enough plays in the rain, and SD did not. "Enough plays" is defined by the amount needed to beat SD. It happened. I've heard guys on the radio talking about the fumble by SD and how that contributes to the flukey nature of the game. DJ stripped that ball.The rain probably helped, but it was DJ that stripped it, not the water. In return, we allowed no turnovers. Not a fluke. That was good defense. 

2. People say that you can't count on crazy-big plays like Jamaal Charles breaking away for a long TD run. Well, with Jamaal Charles, you can. He did that consistently in the second half of last season. Not a fluke. 

3. McCluster's Punt Return - not a fluke. We all knew McCluster would enhance our chance to win, and he did. SD's coverage team couldn't deal with him. 

4. The numbers on offense. I know that the second half wasn't very exciting, but the coaching staff made the right decision and it helped us win. When you are up by two  touchdowns in heavy rain and the other team is struggling to make first downs, playing conservative is the right call. Nobody was worried about making a statement for Cassel and his ability to connect with his receivers downfield - they weren't worried about it during this game anyways. We didn't turn the ball over and that helped us win the game. 

Another reason it was not a fluke - San Diego had a chance to send the game to overtime in the red zone at the end of the game. Our defense stepped up and provided good coverage and San Diego's offense was unable to score - even when they used all four downs. Not a fluke. 

Is there room for improvement? A lot. The Chiefs, however, beat San Diego on Monday night by outplaying them. We can look at the stats and see that San Diego did better in a lot of areas, it's kind of like Haley talking about receivers stats not counting when they're always playing from behind. The Chiefs had the luxury of playing it safe in the second half because playmakers made plays.

A radio DJ was saying that the crowd won the game for the Chiefs. I was there - and I was certainly pumped about the timeouts and the delay of game penalties. Did the crowed have an impact on the game? Of course. And it should have. But the crowd didn't strip the ball and force a fumble. The crowd didn't break away on a TD run. The playmakers did those things. We helped encourage it. 

There is a lot of room for improvement. Haley said it himself after the game that they made it harder than it had to be. The Chiefs and the Arrowhead environment earned that win though.