Yesterday, despite what nearly every NFL analyst outside of Kansas City said would happen, the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers 30 to 27 on the foot of Lawrence Tynes. Tynes hit a 53 yard field goal in the final 10 seconds to secure the Chiefs' third win and hand the Chargers their second loss.
Guess who showed up for this game? Larry Johnson and Tony Gonzalez had arguably their best games of the year. LJ ran over the Charger's highly touted defense for 132 yards and two TDs. Tony Gonzalez finally broke out of his season long rut to put up 6 catches for 138 yards. Damon Huard had his typical game- 15 of 32 for 232 yards and 2 TDs- but he also had his typical lost fumble.
Lets cut to the highlight chase if you will. After going up 20 to 3 in the second quarter, the Chiefs surrendered 21 second half points to notch the score at 27 a piece with less than a minute left. As the score sat tied with 33 seconds left, Damon Huard calmly and cooly led the Chiefs 47 yards down the field to set up a Lawrence Tynes 48 yard field goal.
But the drama didn't end there. Kris Wilson, the Chiefs' new starting fullback/tight end, jumped offsides. That put Tynes 53 yards away with only 6 seconds left. Was there ever a doubt? Well, yes. But Tynes drilled the field goal and gave the Chiefs' the win. Glorious win for Tynes but for me its bittersweet because Tynes missed an extra point earlier in the game that would have made the score at least 28 to 27 instead of sitting there tied with time running out.
The Chiefs' final drive was a thing of beauty. Check out these final plays:
Huard to LJ for 15 yards.
Huard to Tony Gonzalez for for 19 yards.
Huard to Tony Gonzalez for 18 yards.
And Lawrence Tynes took care of the rest.
For the Kansas City Chiefs, this Charger game was a must win and the team came through. Sitting here after the game, I'm just a bit confused. Which Chiefs team is going to show up each week? Is is the team from yesterday, who can take down any of the AFC's top teams? Or is it the team from last week who looked like they were playing D2 football? This may be the continuing story of the season. We know the Chiefs have the talent to play with any NFL team but can Herm Edwards keep this momentum going? I certainly hope so.
Forget about the Charger game. We have to look forward to next week's game against the Seattle Seahawks. This win against the Chargers is just one of many the Chiefs need to create over the next few weeks to keep in the AFC West playoff race.
Great win though. Absolutely fantastic. More to come later but in the meantime, make sure you write up a diary with your own thoughts on the Chiefs' win.
Final stats are here. Oh...about that touted Charger defense...Shawn Merriman was suspended for steroid use. Go figure. The guy is an animal.