K.C. cashes in on L.A.’s failed bets
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — In a game defined by calculated risks, the one decision exempt from debate is Kansas City linebacker Melvin Ingram’s coin-toss choice.
Ingram selected tails as the Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers prepared for overtime, with the score 28-28. The coin landed tails-sideup, giving Kansas City the ball. Six plays later, Travis Kelce scored a walkoff touchdown, a result that allowed Kansas City to win 3428 and prevented Chargers coach Brandon Staley from perhaps finally winning an aggressive gamble.
Kelce’s overtime touchdown came from a short pass that Patrick Mahomes fired on an in-breaking route. After catching it, Kelce repositioned his body and then sprinted down the field 34 yards, weaving through defenders as teammates blocked for him.
Ingram’s luck, Kelce’s score, and second-half bursts from Mahomes and Tyreek Hill solidified Kansas City (10-4) at the top of the AFC West. For the Chargers (8-6), it raises questions about the team’s play-calling philosophy. Instead of kicking modest field goals, Staley elected to go for it five times on fourth down, converting only two of them. Had they made a field goal in even one of those instances, the Chargers very likely would have won.
“That’s going to be the mindset no matter who we play,” Staley said. “I felt really comfortable with all of those decisions.”
The stops by the Chiefs preserved points, which linebacker Anthony Hitchens said was costly for the Chargers.
“No disrespect, but that’s just their game plan,” said Hitchens, who caught an interception. “They don’t want to kick field goals, they want to go for it, then we have to make them pay.”
Two plays in particular doomed Los Angeles — a 32yard scramble by Mahomes in the fourth quarter and a 69-yard catch-and-run by Kelce in the fourth. Those moments directly led to touchdowns, the fourthquarter scramble setting up a 7-yard touchdown to Kelce to tie the score at 28-28.