What Will It Take For The Chargers To Finally Beat The Chiefs?

Since Mahomes has become the starter in KC in 2018, the Chargers and Chiefs have played 14 times. Out of those 14 games, 10 of them have been one score finishes. The Chiefs won 8 of those games by an average of 2.75 points. 8/10 in one score games and the script has been basically the same in every god damn matchup. The teams stay relatively even going into the 4th quarter when the Chargers will get a brief lead while leaving way too much time left on the clock. The Chiefs then grind the clock down running right down the throat of the defense before winning on a walk off field goal. It's inevitable. It's the most "time is a flat circle" feeling in the world. It is as easy to predict as anything. 

This was after a 3rd and 10 conversion to Worthy with 4:26 left on the board. Just nothing left to do. 

So the questions is now what can this team do to beat the Chiefs? These are clearly winnable games, so what makes the difference? To me, this game showed how important it is not to fuck up. Things you cant do:

- Dicker can't fuck up that last kickoff. Giving the Chiefs the 40 to start their final drive can't happen. 

- Joey Bosa's penalties hurt. Defensive offsides on a 3rd and 8 (KC's 25 yard line) in what became a field goal drive. Another one on 2nd and 14 (KC's 5 yard line). Jawann Taylor is a cheater that the NFL refuses to punish but Bosa needs to be adjusted to that by now. 

- Harbaugh just didn't manage this game well. You need to be aggressive to beat the Chiefs and Harbaugh was pretty conservative. Specifically punting on 4th down from the KC 39 instead of letting Dicker attempt a FG in the second quarter. 

- Herbert played a pretty fantastic game considering the injuries to the receiver room and the fact that Trey Pipkins and Zion Johnson couldn't block for shit all game but he had an overthrow to Josh Palmer on what would have been a clear touchdown early in the game. 

All that said, there were obviously a lot of pros to take from this game. The Chargers are obviously over-performing this year. The roster is a lot of trash leftover from the Staley-Telesco era along with dead cap from the worst free agent signing in NFL history in JC Jackson. So to be in the position they are, regardless of the strength of schedule, is still impressive work from Jim Harbaugh and co. On top of that, hanging in with the defending champs in both matchups is still a good sign. 

So I guess we all just sip our Sierra Nevadas, take a deep breath and get ready to beat the piss out of Steven Cheah's Bucs on Sunday.