Everything was going perfectly. Until it wasn’t.
The San Diego Chargers opened the 2016 season by choking away a game they led by 21 points, and if that’s not bad enough, they likely lost one of their best offensive players for the season. The Chiefs get a 33-27 overtime win.
In the 2nd quarter wide receiver Keenan Allen went down with a right knee injury. It happened away from the play with very little contact which usually means a torn ACL and a lost season. For the first half of the 2015 season the Bolts had a top-5 passing offense with Allen leading the way. After he suffered a lacerated kidney in Baltimore the Chargers fell to a bottom-10 passing team.
Before he got hurt Allen was having another tremendous afternoon. He caught six passes for 63 yards and was a big part of a San Diego attack that scored touchdowns on its first three possessions. After giving up a field goal on Kansas City’s opening drive the Chargers went 75 yards in six plays on their first drive. The final yard was covered by running back Melvin Gordon, who plowed in over the right side for his first NFL regular season touchdown.
After forcing a punt the Bolts got right back to work, this time taking it slow. San Diego put together a 13-play drive that covered 80 yards in nearly seven minutes. Once again it ended with Gordon in the end zone, this time on a 6-yard scoring run.
After that drive San Diego’s defense went bonkers. Caraun Reid, the defensive tackle just claimed off waivers from Detroit a week ago, sacked Smith for a 9-yard loss. Reid was in the game because Darius Philon, who was starting because Joey Bosa is still on the exemption list, got hurt early in the game.
Two plays later linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu also sacked Smith, a 14-yard loss to force a punt and set up the Bolts at the KC 38 yard line.
This time quarterback Philip Rivers went to work. Rivers competed five straight passes, the last one a 4-yard touchdown to Danny Woodhead that put San Diego up 21-3. San Diego’s defense forced another punt but on the next offensive possession Allen went down and the Bolts were not the same.
In the second half San Diego built a 24-3 lead but it could have been a much bigger margin. The Bolts got inside the 20 yard line twice but both times had to settle for Josh Lambo field goals instead of touchdowns. Meanwhile, the Chiefs offense was finding its feet. Smith threw touchdown passes to Tyreek Hill and Jeremy Maclin, trading touchdowns for the Chargers’ field goals, cutting the lead to 27-17.
The Chiefs drove down to the Chargers’ 15 yard line and kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 27-20 with 3:22 to play. The Chargers called two running plays to make the Chiefs exhaust two of their time outs and punted it away at the 2:00 warning, putting the game in the hands of their defense.
That did not work out well. Rookie Drew Kaser’s punt only traveled 17 yards and the Chiefs didn’t even need a time out, going right down the field and scoring in 46 seconds. The drive was helped when Smith hit Maclin inside the 15 and Chargers safety Jahleel Addae lowered his helmet in to the defenseless receiver. The penalty put the Chiefs at the five yard line and Spencer Ware scored on the next play, tying the game 27-27 and sending the game to overtime.
The Chiefs won the coin toss and never had to give the ball up. They went 70 yards for a touchdown, the drive ending with Smith running two yards to beat his home town team 33-27.
The Chargers play their home opener in one week at Qualcomm Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
