The Los Angeles Chargers stand at 4-6 going into their next game against the Kansas City Chiefs – which will take place on neutral field in Mexico City. They’re coming off a loss to the Oakland Raiders where Philip Rivers put up a performance that left some fans worried. It wasn’t all bad by any means, but it did involve three interceptions. Obviously, that kind of performance won’t win you many games in general. But Rivers needs to avoid turnovers against the Chiefs altogether.
Philip Rivers Needs to Avoid Interceptions Against Kansas City Chiefs
An Unusual Ratio
Compared to last season, Philip Rivers is having a little bit of a down year. (Of course, that could be said for the entire team… but that’s another story.) Last year he finished with 32 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Now through 10 games this season, he has only 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. That’s an unusually poor touchdown-to-interception ratio for him.
Still, he’s been generally the guy keeping the Chargers in all their games – especially during the time period where Melvin Gordon was struggling heavily. And the Raiders game was really the first time this season that one could look pretty much solely to him and say the team lost because of him. And again, he still had his moments in that game. But besides multiple interceptions, he failed to complete a single pass on the final drive of the game and only got a first down because of a penalty. That’s about as bad of a game-ending drive as Rivers has ever had.
Versus the Chiefs
One would think that playing the Chiefs wouldn’t be much of a struggle for Rivers because their defense is hardly stellar. And that would be partially correct. Rivers seemed to benefit from Marcus Peters getting traded out last year as he had strong games in both matchups. He did throw two interceptions in the second game but still came back to throw the game-winning touchdown and two-point conversion.
What could be a problem potentially is the state of the offensive line, which did contribute in part to Rivers’ struggles against the Raiders. They lost both of their starting tackles Russell Okung and Sam Tevi, and have already been missing Mike Pouncey. The Raiders defensive line isn’t even very good, but it still hampered Rivers. The question is if the Chiefs will be able to do the same – and of course if the offensive line is going to still be in shambles.
Anyway, regardless of all those things, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs are not a team one can afford to turn the ball over against much. Because barring some excellent defensive play, Mahomes will take advantage of such and shred the opposing defense. This all stands true even though the Chiefs have been in a little bit of a slump, most recently losing to Ryan Tannehill’s Tennessee Titans.
Last Word
In the aftermath of the Raiders loss, there’s been a little bit of talk about whether it’s time to move on from Rivers after this season. It probably doesn’t help that the future of the other two top 2004 quarterbacks is in limbo as well. Eli Manning’s days as a New York Giants starter are over, and who knows what Ben Roethlisberger will do after this season. But barring continued struggles, that doesn’t seem like the best decision. Rivers typically does play some of his best football down the stretch of the season anyway.
The start of that “best football” definitely needs to happen on Monday night against the Chiefs. The Chargers can’t afford more than one more loss at best. And it’s a golden opportunity as well – with the Chiefs at 6-4, a win over them would put the Chargers only one game out of first place. And this is not a game where Rivers can afford to turn the ball over much, if at all. Regardless of how much a role the state of the offensive line played, Rivers can’t have another game like he did against the Raiders and expect to win against the Chiefs.
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