Chiefs rally past Chargers for another tight win, regroup after injury to Rashee Rice

As usual, it wasn’t a blowout.

But the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 4-0 on Sunday with a 17-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers opened the game with a 10-0 first quarter lead aided by a Patrick Mahomes interception. But Kansas City rallied to score the game’s final 17 points and overcame another season-shifting injury on offense to wide receiver Rashee Rice.

Another close win for Kansas City

The victory extends Kansas City’s win streak to 10 games dating back to last season’s playoffs and regular season. It was the ninth win in the run that Kansas City secured via a single possession. Only Kansas City’s 26-7 win over the Miami Dolphins in the wild-card round was by more than eight points.

Rice suffered a knee injury in the first quarter in another blow to an offense that already lost lead running back Isiah Pacheco to a broken fibula. On Sunday, tight end Travis Kelce emerged from a cold start to the season as Kansas City’s top receiving option.

Kareem Hunt, who rejoined the Chiefs after the injury to Pacheco, took over as Kansas City’s lead back in his first game with the team since being cut in 2018 after video emerged of him attacking a woman at a Cleveland hotel.

Rough start for Chiefs includes turnovers, injury

The game got off to a dubious start for the Chiefs. Running back Carson Steele fumbled the ball on Kansas City’s first possession. The Chargers converted the turnover into a 74-yard touchdown drive on their first possession for a 7-0 lead.

Then came a play that had the potential to send the game into a spiral for the Chiefs. It did result in the injury to Rice. Mahomes threw an interception on the first play of Kansas City’s next possession to Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton. Rice tracked down Fulton on the interception return and stripped the ball from behind. He injured his right knee as Mahomes dove in front of Fulton for a tackle.

Rice left the game on a stretcher with a knee injury that head coach Andy Reid described at halftime as “not good.” Further details of the injury weren’t initially clear. The Chargers maintained possession after Fulton’s fumble and converted the turnover into a field goal for a 10-0 lead.

But the Chiefs didn’t falter. Kansas City’s defense held Los Angeles off the scoreboard the rest of the way. The Chiefs’ offense responded with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie Xavier Worthy and then a third-quarter field goal to tie the game.

Then Mahomes led a 60-yard, fourth-quarter drive that ended with a Samaje Perine touchdown run with 6:05 remaining to secure the final margin of 17-10.

The injury to Rice forced Mahomes to look elsewhere than his favorite receiver, who entered Sunday’s game with a team-high 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns. No other Chiefs player had more than eight catches or 69 receiving yards in Kansas City’s first three games combined.

Nine-time Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce, who turns 35 next week, had become a secondary option behind Rice, but stepped up for his best game of the season in his absence. He led Kansas City with seven catches and 89 yards on Sunday, eclipsing his total of 69 yards in Kansas City’s previous three games. Worthy added three catches for 73 yards including his 54-yard score.

Steele found the bench after his opening-drive fumble, clearing the way for Hunt to take over the backfield in his return. Hunt led Kansas City with 14 carries for 69 yards. Steele logged just two carries for six yards, while Perine added 14 yards on five carries as Kansas City’s secondary option on the ground.

Mahomes finished the day completing 19 of 29 passes for 245 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Kansas City’s defense, meanwhile, shut the Chargers out after the first quarter. Los Angeles quarterback Justin Herbert finished the day completing 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards with one touchdown. He was sacked twice and pressured consistently. The Chargers managed just 224 yards of total offense.

It wasn’t a vintage win that’s necessarily expected of the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. But it was a Chiefs win nonetheless that secured a 4-0 start and a two-game lead in the AFC West where the Raiders, Chargers and Broncos are all mired in a 2-2 tie.