Elijah Molden returned to the visiting locker room in Arrowhead Stadium to find congratulatory messages on his phone. The Chargers defensive back didn’t find any reasons to celebrate.
“There’s no such thing as almost,” said Molden, who had an interception negated by a penalty in the Chargers’ 19-17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
For the second time this season, the Chargers (8-5) were left recounting the mistakes and missed opportunities in a close loss to the Chiefs. The two-time defending Super Bowl champions bounced a 31-yard field goal off the upright and through the goal posts as time expired Sunday to clinch their ninth consecutive AFC West title.
Read more: Chargers are beaten down by Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes again, this time on last drive
Here are four takeaways from the loss:
Justin Herbert no worse for the wear
The crowd at Arrowhead Stadium fell silent as trainers attended to Justin Herbert on the field. Coach Jim Harbaugh leaned over with his hands on his knees after Herbert absorbed a big hit from linebacker Nick Bolton while Herbert was releasing the ball on a deep throw.
Herbert said he just took a hit to his left knee on the play and doesn’t anticipate that it’ll be a problem going forward. Harbaugh called it a leg contusion. Backup Taylor Heinicke entered for one play, rushing for 12 yards on third-and-20, before Herbert returned to finish the half without entering the injury tent for additional evaluation.
“We were lucky that he was such a competitor,” center Bradley Bozeman said. “He came back and gritted it out and did what he did and played a great game.”
Herbert finished with 213 yards passing and a touchdown on 21-of-30 passing. He ended major concerns about his knee almost immediately to begin the second half as he led back-to-back touchdown drives to flip a 13-point halftime deficit into a one-point advantage.
Receivers step up without Ladd McConkey
Ladd McConkey had accounted for more than half of the Chargers’ receiving yards in the past three games, but with the rookie sidelined Sunday, Herbert was forced to test the receiver room’s depth.
Joshua Palmer and Quentin Johnston led the way with six and five catches, respectively, with Palmer recording a season-high 78 yards receiving. Johnston, whose season was on an upwards trajectory before he had no catches and a critical drop in the loss to the Baltimore Ravens two weeks ago, had 48 yards and one touchdown. He set the tone in the first quarter by holding on to a catch despite a crushing blind-side hit that drew an unnecessary roughness penalty.
“Quentin Johnston, tough as nails game,” Harbaugh said. “Guys came to play.”
The passing game was tested even further when tight end Will Dissly injured his shoulder on the final play of the first half and did not return. He was the Chargers’ second-leading receiver entering the game with 399 yards receiving and 41 catches.
Running in circles
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman said last week that a more potent rushing attack was going to be necessary to win against the Chiefs. The Chargers rushed for 94 yards; it was their third consecutive game with fewer than 100 yards on the ground.
Chargers running backs averaged 2.6 yards per rush in the first half, getting only five carries. It didn’t feel like a coincidence that the Chargers were shut out in the first half.
Gus Edwards was dropped for a two-yard loss on his first rush, and Kimani Vidal had a seven-yard gain negated by penalty on his first touch. The negative plays forced the Chargers to veer from the running game early.
But the running backs started the second half on the right foot with Edwards picking up three yards on his first carry of the third quarter. Vidal rushed for eight yards on consecutive plays, leading to the Chargers’ first touchdown drive of the game.
“We started kind of getting to who we are,” Bozeman said of the offensive improvement in the third quarter. “It started paying off for us in the second half. We just got to start faster in the first half and give G-Ro the confidence for us to be able to run the ball.”
Edwards finished with 36 yards rushing on 10 carries and one touchdown. Vidal got his biggest workload of the season Sunday with eight carries and 34 yards rushing.
Read more: Chiefs show Chargers how to win close games, still a lost cause for L.A.
The Chargers will be without running back J.K. Dobbins (knee) for at least two more games while he is on injured reserve.
Chargers lack the finishing punch
The Chargers had 11 quarterback hits and three sacks of Patrick Mahomes in the first half. The 11 quarterback hits were the most for the team in a first half of a game since 2000.
Joey Bosa and Derwin James Jr. each got one sack while Tuli Tuipulotu and Khalil Mack split a sack in the first half. Mack led the team with four quarterback hits, but the Chargers only hit Mahomes twice in the second half and didn’t get a sack after halftime.
“The biggest thing is that we can’t get comfortable,” said linebacker Daiyan Henley, who missed a tackle on Mahomes on a critical third-down play that allowed the Chiefs to set up their final field goal. “It’s a four-quarter fight, it’s a 15-round fight, that’s what we talked about before this game even started in boxing terms. We got to be able to throw that knockout punch in these type of moments.”
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
