Bonita Vista Middle School alumnus Alex Smith and his current Kansas City Chiefs teammates appear to be putting things together at the right time of the NFL season. It wasn’t a thing of beauty but Kansas City held off the visiting San Diego Chargers, 10-3, in a downpour at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday to post their seventh consecutive victory and a leg up in the AFC wildcard playoff race.
The Chargers, despite putting forth a gutsy effort, continued to plunge deeper into the sink hole that has defined their season.
The game ended in heart-stopping fashion for the fans of both teams as the Chargers – 10 point underdogs – advanced the ball to the one-yard line on a fourth-down pass to newly signed Vincent Brown (SDSU alumnus) with 16 seconds to play after converting on three consecutive fourth-down plays. However, successive five-yard penalties on the visitors moved the ball back to the 11-yard line with one second to play.
The game then ended with a successful goal-line stand by the Chiefs as San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers threw an incomplete pass – in-and-out of the hands – to Danny Woodhead in the end zone.
The Chargers, admittedly playing for pride after being eliminated from the wild card playoff race, dropped to 3-10 on the season while the Chiefs improved to 8-5.
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid and the rest of his team had to offer up a collective sigh of relief at the end of the game.
“All in all, it was a good win,” Reid told the media in his post-game press conference. “You’re going to have these kinds of games, especially against the AFC West rivals. You’ve got to find ways to win. We fought ourselves a little bit to do it, but we found a way to win at the end, which ended up being very important.
“If you’re going to be a good football team, you’ve got to win games like this. We’ve found ways to lose games just like this. You find a way to do it.”
San Diego head coach Mike McCoy was a bit more to the point. “When your number is called, you’ve got to make the play,” he said.
Rivers said everyone on the team has had a hand in the team’s dysfunctional season, himself included. “We’ve all had a part in this,” he said. “The effort was there, we just didn’t make the plays.”
Kansas City, which routed San Diego by a 33-3 score three weeks earlier, put up all its points in a 1:53 stretch late in the second quarter. Smith completed a 44-yard touchdown pass to Albert Wilson. Cairo Santos then booted a 40-yard field goal after teammate Derrick Johnson picked off Rivers.
The Chargers, whose offense continues to struggle, scored their only points on a 30-yard field goal by Josh Lambo in the third quarter.
Smith completed 15 of 23 passing attempts for 191 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sacked twice.
The former BVMS student has passed for 3,034 yards with 15 touchdowns and four interceptions this season but has been sacked 40 times.
Rivers completed 24 of 43 passing attempts for 263 yards with one interception. The Chiefs sacked Rivers five times, including three by Dee Ford. Rivers has thrown for 3,976 yards with 23 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He’s been sacked 35 times this season.
In what has become a notable statistic this season, Kansas City out-rushed San Diego 150-44.
Wilson had four catches for 87 yards to lead Kansas City. Smith called an audible on the touchdown play to Wilson.
“He (Smith) got us out of a situation and put us in a better situation, so I thought he did a great job with it,” Reid said.
The win was the 37th for Smith in three years in Kansas City, tying him with former standout Trent Green for most wins in his first three years with the team.
Smith also showed his physicality on the field in a couple of instances when running the ball and receiving hits by Charger defenders.
Smith said his tenure with the team has allowed him to expand his play-calling ability.
“We’re in the third year now so I think there’s just more familiarity there and it’s easier to do those things, for everybody, not just myself,” he explained to media outlet Chiefs.com.
The Chargers wasted their best effort in several weeks in absorbing the loss.
Antonio Gates led San Diego with six catches for 76 yards, Malcom Floyd had three catches for 56 yards and Javontae Herndon had five catches for 47 yards.
Rookie Melvin Gordon rushed 14 times for 35 yards to pace San Diego. Charcandrick West led the Chiefs with 10 carries for 54 yards while Ware had eight carries for 52 yards.
Jason Verrett intercepted Smith in the second quarter ended a streak of 312 consecutive pass attempts by Smith without throwing an interception, the second-longest streak in NFL history.
Both Lambo and Santos missed field goals in the game.
The Chiefs currently own the AFC’s No. 5 playoff seed and would play the AFC South winner in the wild card playoffs.
Indianapolis continues to hold the tiebreaker over Houston for the AFC South lead. Both teams lost games on Sunday: Indianapolis 51-16 at Jacksonville and Houston 27-6 to visiting New England. Indianapolis hosts Houston this coming weekend to break the tie.
Kansas City’s three remaining regular season games include a road this Sunday (Dec. 20) at Baltimore (4-9) and home games Dec. 27 against the Cleveland Browns (3-10) and Jan. 3 against the Oakland Raiders (5-7).
The Chargers host Miami on Sunday (Dec. 20) in what could be the team’s final game at Qualcomm Stadium if the NFL club elects to shift operations northward to Los Angeles next season.
The St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders have also indicated a desire to relocate their franchises.
AFC leader board
Cincinnati’s 33-20 AFC North setback to the visiting Pittsburgh Steelers opened the door for the Denver Broncos to take control of the AFC’s No. 1 playoff seed but the Broncos fumbled away an early 12-0 lead to the visiting Oakland Raiders in an upset 15-12 setback. It ended a three-game winning streak for Denver quarterback Brock Osweiler in relief of injured starter Peyton Manning, who remains sidelined for the upcoming week.
Osweiler threw for 308 yards without a turnover but dropped passes by Denver receivers keyed the loss by the Broncos, who let a most opportune moment slip away.
Denver leads the AFC West with a 10-3 record. Cincinnati is also 10-3. The New England Patriots improved to 11-2 with their win over Houston.
Pittsburgh, New York and Kansas City are all fighting for two wildcard spots. The Steelers appear to be playing the best of the three contenders at the moment and the race to the finish line looks to pick up speed – and excitement – in the coming weeks.
NFC leader board
The Arizona Cardinals (11-2) clinched the NFC West title with a 23-20 non-divisional victory against the visiting Minnesota Vikings (8-5) on the Thursday Night Football telecast. Carson Palmer threw for 310 yards and two touchdowns
Eastlake High School alumnus Tony Jefferson collected three tackles, one sack and one quarterback hit for the Cardinals. He has accumulated 58 total tackles, two sacks, two interceptions (including one for a touchdown) and five pass deflections on the season. Jefferson’s career high for tackles in one season is 79.
Arizona’s defense recovered three fumbles and sacked Minnesota quarterback Teddy Bridgewater three times.
Bridgewater threw for 335 yards and one touchdown in the loss while Adrian Peterson rushed 23 times for 69 yards and one score.
Chicago’s Robbie Gould missed a potential game-tying field goal with 27 seconds to play in the Bears’ 24-21 loss to the Washington Redskins. Chicago head coach John Fox (Castle Park High School) dropped to 5-8 in his first season with the Bears, who rallied from a 21-7 deficit to tie the score 21-21 in the fourth quarter.
Washington and the Philadelphia Eagles (23-20 winners over the visiting Buffalo Bills) remained tied for the NFC East lead with 6-7 records. The New York Giants moved into a three-way tie for the division lead following their 31-24 win at Miami on Monday night.
The Carolina Panthers remained the NFL’s lone undefeated team after drubbing the visiting Atlanta Falcons, 38-0, to improve to 13-0 with three regular season games remaining. Cam Newton threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns – two to Ted Ginn Jr. (two catches, 120 yards). Carolina blew out to a 21-0 first quarter lead.
Green Bay took over control of the NFC North by defeating the visiting Dallas Cowboys, 28-7, to improve to 9-4.
Seattle hiked its chances of securing a NFC wild card berth after throttling host Baltimore, 35-6, as quarterback Russell Wilson threw for 292 yards and five touchdowns – three to Doug Baldwin (six catches, 82 yards) and Tyler Lockett (six catches, 104 yards).
AFC playoff seeding
New England Patriots 11-2
Denver Broncos 10-3
Cincinnati Bengals 10-3
Houston Texas 6-6
Kansas City Chiefs 8-5
New York Jets 8-5
In the hunt
Pittsburgh Steelers 8-5
Oakland Raiders 6-7
Buffalo Bills 6-7
Indianapolis Colts 6-7
Miami Dolphins 5-8
Jacksonville Jaguars 5-8
Eliminated
Baltimore Ravens 4-9
San Diego Chargers 3-10
Cleveland Browns 3-10
Tennessee Titans 3-10
NFC playoff seeding
Carolina Panthers 13-0
Arizona Cardinals 11-2
Green Bay Packers 9-4
Washington Redskins 6-7
Seattle Seahawks 8-5
Minnesota Vikings 8-5
In the hunt
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 6-7
Atlanta Falcons 6-7
Philadelphia Eagles 6-7
New York Giants 6-7
St. Louis Rams 5-8
New Orleans Saints 5-8
Chicago Bears 5-8
Dallas Cowboys 4-9
Eliminated
Detroit Lions 4-9
San Francisco 49ers 4-9
