Let’s get down to it. The Arrowhead Pride staff — the bloggers that blog right here on this blog! — has made their picks for the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers game. Both teams are 7-6 and the latest odds have the Chargers as a 1-point favorite at Arrowhead on Saturday night.
Find more picks for Week 15 here.
Chargers 28 Chiefs 27
Maybe I was the bad luck guy. Last week I picked against the Chiefs and they won. This week, I go for the reverse jinx again. -Joel Thorman
Chargers 17 Chiefs 28
Philip Rivers has been terrible in his last seven games against the Chiefs: he owns a 68.7 rating, has thrown five TDs and 10 INTs, and has an 0-7 record. I don't care what Chargers fans keep telling me, there is no way Philip Rivers comes into a packed Saturday night Arrowhead and leaves with a victory. Darrelle Revis is looking like a solid player, Marcus Peters will be back, and the defense is ready to play its best football down the stretch. The Arrowhead crowd blows the Chargers' minds on Saturday night and they'll go back to LA sad that they'll never know what it's like to play for the Chiefs and their fans. -Gary McKenzie
Chargers 24 Chiefs 30 (OT)
The Chiefs and Chargers meet at Arrowhead Stadium in this Week 15 matchup, but it might as well be the postseason. The Chiefs need to beat the Chargers in order to hold on to control of their own playoff destiny.
Over the past couple weeks, I have thought there to be no chance the Chiefs could win this game against such a red-hot team, but Matt Nagy's play-calling has sparked a once-broken offense, and the defense last week surprised me in a good way. The defensive effort and urgency finally returned.
This game will be close, and I expect it to go to overtime. And I predict once it does, the Chiefs will send a rocking Arrowhead Stadium crowd home happy. -Pete Sweeney
Chargers 21 Chiefs 24
The momentum of the offense continues. We haven't seen the full manifestation of Nagy's play calling. This week is the biggest test of his mettle. The Chiefs have been able to lighten boxes recently with their steady diet of RPOs. The defensive front they play Saturday might be able to damage with only six. I expect the Chiefs to hit a big play or two off the RPO tendencies this week. It's the next step in building off Nagy's adjustments. Defensively, an inspired Marcus Peters teams with a suddenly spry Darrelle Revis (you should read Seth's excellent piece on it) and a pass rush to slow a good offense down. A complete team performance brings hope. Something Chiefs fans haven't had for a month or so. -Kent Swanson
Chargers 27 Chiefs 31
This is what it's all about. Primetime. Division rival. Tied for the lead. Season winding down. Red on red. Playoffs on the line. Chiefs finally looking like a playoff team again. Kareem Hunt is back on track. Alex Smith is attacking downfield again. Pass rush is working from inside to outside. Cornerbacks, including Darrelle Revis and Terrance Mitchell, played well last week. Marcus Peters should be back with a vengeance after sitting against the Raiders. The Chiefs are, at least for one week, in the driver's seat again. If they beat the Chargers, they will remain there and likely have a postseason opportunity. The only thing standing in the way are the red hot Chargers, featuring a mean edge rush, a veteran QB who is on a roll, and a trio of offensive weapons. This will be an incredible game to watch, where anything can happen. I'll predict the Chiefs are the team we saw last week, not the one from the prior six weeks. -Matt Stagner
Chargers 24 Chiefs 27
I believe in the changes I've seen in the offense under Matt Nagy. I think the Chiefs have managed to cut out some of their worst habits but retained the overall design. In the defense finding it sparked against Oakland is just enough to give me hope for at least one more flash from this year's team. -Seth Keysor