The Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs were charter members of the American Football League, with the newly minted L.A. team leaving for San Diego after one season.
That was way back in 1960.
This seasons opener between those AFC West rivals feels roughly that long ago.
Ah, those days of innocence, when we didnt know how good Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes would be and the Chargers were just a team that hadnt made the playoffs in four seasons. The Chiefs won that day at StubHub Center, 38-28, but few people were circling their Week 15 rematch on the calendar as a must-see matchup.
But it is. In a game thats short on preparation time and long on consequences, the Chargers will play at Kansas City on Thursday night in a showdown of two of the NFLs hottest teams, the only AFC clubs with double-digit victories. The Chargers have won three in a row, the longest winning streak in the conference, and are 5-1 on the road. Kansas City secured at least a spot in the playoffs with Sundays win.
The Chiefs are 6-0 at Arrowhead Stadium and would still own the division tiebreaker over the Chargers with a loss Thursday, by virtue of a better divisional record, even though both teams would be 11-3. Kansas Citys final two games are at Seattle, and home against Oakland. The Chargers finish at home against Baltimore, and at Denver.
In pursuit of home-field advantage in the playoffs, the Chiefs also got some breathing room Sunday because every other division leader in the conference New England, Pittsburgh and Houston lost.
The Rams will look to get back on track against Philadelphia after they were offensively aimless and arrhythmic in a 15-6 loss at Chicago. A year ago, the Eagles pulled off a December victory at the Coliseum and, despite losing Most Valuable Player favorite Carson Wentz to a knee injury, began their improbable march to their first Lombardi Trophy with Nick Foles at quarterback.
(Foles, by the way, played quarterback for three of the four teams in the aforementioned games: Eagles, Rams and Chiefs.)
As it stands, the four starting quarterbacks in this weeks games involving L.A. teams were all top-10 draft picks: the Rams Jared Goff (first), Wentz (second), the Chargers Philip Rivers (fourth), and Mahomes (10th).
This season, Mahomes is the leagues leading MVP candidate and is atop the passing charts with a symmetrical 4,300 yards and 43 touchdowns. Hes coming off a 377-yard, two-touchdown performance in a 27-24 overtime victory against Baltimore that might have been his most impressive outing of the season, even though his numbers werent as gaudy as in other games. The Ravens entered with the leagues No. 1 defense, and Chiefs speedster Tyreek Hill was hobbled by a heel injury (yet still made a 48-yard reception on fourth-and-nine late in the fourth quarter).
Mahomes has made good on the prescient observation Rivers made about him after the opener: I think he has a chance to be a really, really awesome player. He has some arm talent. Id like to borrow his arm every now and then. Some of those throws, he can really throw it. And shoot, hes really accurate.
And so was Rivers with that comment. Maybe he had an inkling back then how big Thursday nights game would be.
GONE TO CAROLINA
