Team Grades: Kansas City Sacks San Diego's Playoff Hopes

By Dave Thomas

Living on the edge can be dangerous no matter what your occupation is.

For the San Diego Chargers, living on the edge the last month became a little bit too overwhelming, therefore leading to a long off-season to ponder how things might have turned out differently with a few plays and bounces here and there.

On Sunday in Kansas City, the Chargers, however, were simply outplayed by a Chiefs team that was also playing for its playoff life.

With their 19-7 win and season sweep of the Bolts, Kansas City eliminated the Chargers and claimed second place in the AFC West outright. That is probably little relief, however, as the Chiefs will also be in for a long off-season.

For San Diego, Win Or Go Home

Coming into Sunday's "win or go home" meeting in the nation's heartland, San Diego (9-7) had its playoff destiny in its own hands.

Unfortunately for the Chargers, the only hands that truly mattered were those of the Kansas City defense, which constantly had San Diego QB Philip Rivers under duress.

When all was said and done, the Chiefs had sacked Rivers a total of seven times. Simply put, Rivers, who gives his team 100 percent and then some each and every game, was not able to muster any kind of consistent offensive attack.

Rivers, who finished an average day at best in going 20-of-34 for 291 yards, two INT's, was unable to pull out another signature comeback win  like the victories on the road in recent weeks at Baltimore and San Francisco. As a result, it was that same Baltimore squad that scooped up the final AFC playoff spot on this late December day, sending San Diego into the off-season.

Meantime, Kansas City was still mathematically alive for the final AFC wild card spot when the day began, but Baltimore's win sealed the fate of the Chiefs and the Houston Texans.

With backup signal caller Chase Daniel getting the start for the Chiefs (starter Alex Smith was out with a lacerated spleen), the University of Missouri product did just enough to get Kansas City in position for four Cairo Santos field goals, along with tight end Travis Kelce recovering a Dwayne Bowe fumble in the end zone for the team's only touchdown.

Just like their win over the Chargers earlier in the season in San Diego, the Chiefs had just enough offense and a good defensive game plan to bottle up Rivers enough to where the veteran QB just did not look like the star signal caller that he is more times than not.

So, with the books closed on the season, the Chargers and their fans are left wondering what could have been.

The idea of back-to-back playoff visits died on the field Sunday afternoon at Arrowhead Stadium at the hands of a ferocious defense and a backup quarterback.

Not exactly the way Rivers, Eric Weddle, Antonio Gates, head coach Mike McCoy and the countless Charger fans nationwide wanted to end the long holiday weekend.

TEAM GRADES:

OFFENSE (C-) - Even with starting running back Ryan Mathews and second-year starting wide receiver Keenan Allen missing the game with injuries, the Chargers had enough offensive weapons on the field, but they truly never got going. Kansas City's Justin Houston was a nightmare to block, finishing his day with four sacks and five solo tackles. While San Diego's offensive line has been a work in progress for most of the season due to talent and injuries, they simply had no answer for Houston and his mates on this day. Couple that with yet another anemic performance running the ball (112 yards on 25 carries), you serve up a recipe for disaster. Lastly, the Chargers appeared to do too little, too late with veteran tight end Antonio Gates. The future Hall-of-Famer was missing in action for much of the game, finishing with four receptions for 67 yards.

DEFENSE (C+) - With Daniel starting for the Chiefs, the Chargers should have had a feeding frenzy on defense. Yes, the Bolts did sack Daniel four times on the day, but he was able to do just enough to keep the Chiefs in control for much of the game. Manti Te'o led the way with nine solo tackles, Jahleel Addae recorded six, and Weddle tallied five solo tackles for the Bolts. In a perfect world, San Diego would have had Daniel flustered, bottled up and looking up at the sky for much of the day, but it simply did not happen. While the Chargers only allowed one touchdown, the Chiefs got just enough out of a number of their drives to put three points on the board and stem any possible San Diego momentum. 

For more Chargers news and updates, visit Chargers Central.

Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.