HOW THEY MATCH UP
When Chargers have the ball: Backup quarterback Easton Stick continues to play for his future as the Chargers prepare for an offseason of potentially significant roster change. Over his three starts in relief of injured Justin Herbert, Stick has guided the offense to just four touchdowns in 37 possessions. The Chargers haven’t reached the end zone in six quarters, their most recent touchdown coming early in the second quarter of Week 16. Stick has displayed improved arm strength and an ability to make plays with his legs, but he also acknowledged to dealing with frustration after the Chargers lost 16-9 last weekend at Denver. In that game, the offense reached the red zone one time and settled for a field goal. “It’s been a tough year,” Stick said. “When you're not winning, it’s frustrating for a lot of different reasons.” With Stick starting, the Chargers are 0-3. In four years at North Dakota State, his teams went 49-3. “It certainly hasn’t gone the way we wanted it to, the way we would have drawn it up, the way we thought that it was going to go,” he said. “Things happen . ... We have a job to do. We signed up for 17 of these things, and we’re excited about playing the last one.”
When Chiefs have the ball: Normally, this space would lead with Patrick Mahomes, but Mahomes won’t lead Kansas City on Sunday. With the game having no impact on playoff seeding, the Chiefs will start Blaine Gabbert at quarterback. Gabbert, 34, has appeared in two games over the last two seasons and hasn’t started since 2018, when he was with Tennessee and Herbert was a junior at Oregon. Jacksonville drafted Gabbert in the first round in 2011, one spot before Houston took J.J. Watt. With the Jaguars, Gabbert won five of 27 starts before being traded to San Francisco in 2014. He has started 21 times in the nine years since. Gabbert’s lone appearance this season came in Week 3, when he finished a 41-10 victory over Chicago by playing the final 21 offensive snaps. While resting some of their regulars, the Chiefs also will be trying to rediscover some magic before the start of the postseason. They’ve lost three of five and four of seven as they prepare to defend the Super Bowl title they won in Arizona in February. Right now, good luck trying to find a forecast that has Kansas City winning it all again in Las Vegas.
When they kick: Cameron Dicker missed only his third attempt in 27 regular-season games last weekend when his 50-yard field goal try against Denver was blocked. For his career, he is 48 of 51 on field-goal attempts — missing from 50, 52 and 53 yards — while making all 59 of his extra-point tries. Kansas City’s Harrison Butker, a longtime Chargers nemesis, is having another solid season, hitting 31 of 33 field-goals tries and 37 of 37 extra points.
By the numbers:
Jeff Miller’s prediction: This game had potential for being moved into prime time when the NFL schedule was released in the spring. That possibility disappeared when the Chargers’ season went to pieces. All that really remains is to see if they can win one for the Giffer — interim head coach Giff Smith. He’s 0-2 since taking over for the fired Brandon Staley. Here’s one for posterity.
CHARGERS 20, CHIEFS 13