The Chargers are 10-4 after Sunday’s 16-13 thrilling win over the Chiefs.
Here are five takeaways from Week 15.
1. Chargers sweep the Chiefs
The script has been flipped.
And the Chargers made a statement while doing so.
The Bolts walked into Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday afternoon and exorcised some demons, securing their first season sweep of the Chiefs since 2013 while also moving to 5-0 in the AFC West this season.
“I thought it was really cool we were able to close out a one-score game like that. How many times played them, we’ve had those one-score games … but the way the defense came up and shut them down was awesome to see.”
Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh beamed with pride after the Bolts notched their 10th win, meaning the Chargers have now tallied consecutive double-digit win seasons for the first time since 2006 and 2007.
“It’s a ball team. I’m starting to think of this as my favorite ball team I’ve ever been on,” Harbaugh said. “And I’ve been on some good ones, but none better than this ball team.
“And when you have a real ball team, you know that you give it your best, keep getting better and you don’t have to do it yourself,” Harbaugh added. “Every other guy, there’s 53, they go out there and play as one.”
As usual, this one came down to the wire between the pair of AFC West rivals and elite quarterbacks,.
Entering this season, the teams had played 10 times since the start of the 2020 season when Herbert was drafted.
Of those 10 games, eight were decided by one possession, with the Chiefs winning seven of them.
The Chargers produced a 27-21 win in Brazil way back in Week 1 before earning a comeback win Sunday. The victory, combined with wins by the Bills, Texans and Jaguars, eliminated the Chiefs from playoff contention at 6-8.
The Bolts trailed by 10 in the second quarter before rallying against their biggest rival.
“We’ve just continued to be better and better,” Herbert said. “That’s our focus and I think Coach Harbaugh would say the same thing. We’re worried about what’s going on in our locker room, our field. We’re doing everything we can to get better and better … and when we do that, we’re able to play some pretty good football.”
Derwin James, who secured the game-winning interception, added: “I learned what I already knew about this team. They’re resilient, they’re going to fight. We were down 10 points and nobody was like, ‘We’re going to lose.’ Everybody still believed and we came out and won the game.”
Trailing by a field goal at halftime, Harbaugh implored his team to come out and own the second half.
The Chargers responded with a second-half shutout on defense while possessing the ball for nearly 20 minutes on offense. All in a game that was tied for the third-coldest in franchise history.
“It felt like we were going to have to play our best game and I really hoped that,” Harbaugh said. “I hoped that we’d come and play our best. At halftime, that’s what we said, ‘Let’s go play our best half of football of the season.’ And our guys did.”
He later added: “To beat the other team, but beat the crowd … had some elements, got to beat the elements, too. It makes you feel like a man. Really proud of our team.”
What’s next for the Chargers?
At 10-4, the Chargers playoff odds jumped to 95 percent after the win, according to The Athletic.
But the Bolts know they haven’t clinched anything yet with three games to go.
“it puts us at 10-4, 5-0 in the division,” James said. “But that don’t mean nothing, we still have to come out here, execute, get ready for the next games and keep playing the games we want to play and go do the things we want to do as a team.”
Harbaugh added: “[Sunday] was the most important game of the season because it was this game. Now the most important game of the season is the Cowboys. We’ve got more work to do.”
