Chargers onside kick late in Chiefs game was an accident

Earlier this week we wrote a post wondering what was up with that onside kick from the Chargers in Sunday's game against the Chiefs when they were leading by 17 points with less than two minutes left.

We finally have our answer.

Unfortunately, there's no Norv vs. Romeo rivalry building. Chargers kicker Nick Novak, who was signed that week, said it was a mistake, according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

That was a mistake, Nick Novak said. He took a signal from the Chargers sideline that last year meant onside kick and applied it as such. The team intended to kick it away. It was positioned in its regular kickoff formation. Just some miscommunication with their last-minute replacement at kicker.

I can buy that. Novak was signed the week before the game. The Chargers weren't lined up in an onside kick formation and you could make the argument that the players looked surprised (at least on the TV broadcast).

Here's where they're lined up as the kick came out:

Once you stop paying attention to the half dozen people in the crowd, check it out as the first Chief touches the ball. The Chargers don't look prepared for an onside right there.

After the kick, the TV broadcast caught Norv walking briskly down the sideline...perhaps having a talk with his special teams coach?

After all that, it's kinda funny to go back and listen to what Solomon Wilcots said about the onside:

It was a good play. It was by design. Novak, a heck of a kick by him.