Sunday Afternoon – Kansas City Chiefs at Los Angeles Chargers

Before you shake your head at this game, let me explain its significance. This matchup will be an early season indicator as to whether or not the Chargers will be contenders in 2017. The newest LA squad has a veteran QB, a talented RB, play-making WRs and one of the best up and coming defenses across the league. If there’s any candidate to have a worst to first season, it’s definitely the Chargers. That said, they could completely collapse once again. This formidable matchup with the Chiefs is a great early season litmus test.

Keys to the Game
Chiefs
This is a simple one for KC: get the lead, pound the rock and make Rivers throw. It’s been a proven recipe for success against bad Chargers teams and will probably work this time around as well. The most important thing for KC will be to keep this game close — they typically don’t have the offensive firepower to mount a big comeback (ahem, Week 1 last year, ahem). Pressure Rivers and good things will happen for the Chiefs.

Chargers
This will be a tough test for LA. The Chiefs’ defense is terrific and corner Marcus Peters has already established himself as one of the best in the game. He’s going to shut down one side of the field most of the day. The Chargers need to play stingy defense, force some turnovers and take what the KC defense gives them. Good balance between the run and pass will be crucial — they’ll need to keep KC’s pass rushers at bay and keep them off balance. If they can do that, the offense will put up enough crooked numbers to get a win.