The Chargers had a lead in the fourth quarter against the 49ers on Sunday night in Week 10, but they couldn’t hold it and they went home with a loss.
This Sunday night played out the same way. The Chargers led entering the fourth quarter and they moved back into the lead with just under two minutes left to play, but the Chiefs needed just over a minute to drive for the winning score.
It took the Chiefs six plays to cover 75 yards on the game-winning drive, which isn’t the kind of performance the Chargers were looking for when they made a heavy investment in their defense this offseason. Linebacker Drue Tranquill said that “if you want to be a great defense you have to close out games” and the Chargers haven’t been able to do that under head coach Brandon Staley.
“We have to make more plays,” Staley said, via the team’s website. “We have to make more plays. It’s as simple as that on third down. We’re not covering well enough on third down. That’s all there is to it.”
Challenging the Chiefs for the division title is pretty much a lost cause at this point, but the Chargers can still make a run at a playoff spot. Pulling that off will take a team that can play for 60 minutes instead of the one we’ve seen the last two weeks.