Chargers Must Take Loss to Chiefs as Wake-Up Call in Tight Division Race

After stringing together five consecutive wins and posting a record of 5-2 after the first seven weeks of the 2014 season, the San Diego Chargers put their division, and the AFC, on notice. After finishing at 9-7 or worse for the last four seasons, San Diego is in a legitimate competition with the Denver Broncos for the AFC West lead. 

However, the road to the division title goes through Oakland, Kansas City and Denver, and San Diego needs to capitalize on each of those matchups if it wants to contend for the lead in the division.

The Broncos are undefeated in the division after beating the Chiefs in Week 2, while San Diego's loss to Kansas City on Sunday puts it at 1-1 on the season against division opponents. 

In his postgame press conference, Coach Mike McCoy said that there was a lot for the team to improve on after the tough loss:

On paper, the Chargers, playing at home, should have made easy work of the Chiefs. Heading into the matchup, San Diego was ranked ninth in total offense, averaging 378.2 yards per game. Kansas City, on the other hand, has put up just 1,675 yards on the season, the third-fewest in the league. 

On defense, San Diego was allowing opponents an average of 308.3 yards per game (No. 3 in the league), while Kansas City ranked at No. 14 with 341.8 yards on average. 

San Diego also has one of the league's stingiest scoring defenses, allowing just 15.2 points per game, but the Chiefs aren't far behind, allowing just five more points per game on average. 

On Sunday, however, the Chargers played down to their opponent.

Philip Rivers and the offense only put up 251 yards on the day, more than 100 fewer yards than it has averaged per game this season. The defense allowed the Chiefs 23 points, the second-highest so far this season. 

Incidentally, the team that has been able to score the most on the Chargers this season? The only other division rival they have played, the Raiders, were somehow able to put up 28 points against one of the league's best scoring defenses. 

The Raiders currently rank dead-last in the NFL in scoring, with just 79 points on the season. 

Losing or just barely winning matchups against division rivals in which they are heavily favored is not a strategy the Chargers can follow to the AFC West title. 

	vs. Division Opponents	vs. Non-Division Opponents
Avg. Pass Yds	244.5	281.2
Avg. Rush Yds	92.5	88
Avg. Pass Yds Allowed	246.5	194.8
Avg. Rush Yds Allowed	134	96
Avg. Pts Scored	25.5	26.6
Avg. Pts Allowed	25.5	12.6

The Chiefs were ranked fourth in the league in third-down conversion rate prior to Sunday, converting 50.75 percent of their third downs on the season, per TeamRankings.com. They continued to enjoy success on third downs against the Chargers, which allowed them to convert seven of 14 third downs while only making three of their own. 

San Diego had only been allowing opponents to convert 44.59 percent of third downs, making it yet another area in which it has struggled against a division opponent more than against other teams.

In fact, the Chargers allowed the Raiders to complete a whopping 61.54 percent of third downs last week, which was the second-highest conversion rate in Week 6, according to TeamRankings.com. 

Rivers struggled against Kansas City's league-best passing defense. It has only allowed opposing quarterbacks 214 yards per game on average and 7.2 yards per attempt; Rivers only threw for 205 yards against the Chiefs, averaging just 6.6 yards per attempt. 

It was a low output for the quarterback who is in the top three in the league in passing yards and has been averaging 250 a game. 

Rivers and the Chargers won't have an easier time of it against their third division rival in as many weeks, the Broncos, on a short week this Thursday. 

Denver is scoring 29.4 points per game, which is more than San Diego has allowed all season. But the Chargers' recent propensity of giving up more to division rivals than they have to non-division opponents doesn't bode well for this matchup. 

It's possible that the Chargers have fallen victim to two "gotcha" games against Oakland and Kansas City—both matchups they were heavily favored to win—and that they will show up against Denver. But even if that is true and they win on Thursday, they still have three more crucial division games down the stretch. 

Whether or not the Chargers can break an emerging trend and have a strong showing against Denver will figure heavily into the discussion of their shot at the AFC West title after the season's halfway mark.