Kansas City Chiefs: Can Tamba Hali Carry the Chiefs This Sunday?

The Kansas City Chiefs have struggled on both sides when it comes to scoring. They are last in the league in points scored and given up.

While many Chiefs fans are not aware of this, they can climb to third place in the AFC West by stunning the San Diego Chargers on the road. The Chargers would have a 1-2 record and would lose the early tiebreaker to Kansas City because of the head-to-head and division record.

But what would it take from the Chiefs to pull away with the win in San Diego?

In the last four games, the Chiefs have scored three touchdowns, all of them coming from Jamaal Charles. With Charles out for the season due to a torn ACL, the Chiefs offense will continue to struggle.

The only way the Chiefs can win this game is by limiting the Chargers and come away victorious in a low scoring game. But even so, that will require a lot.

The Chiefs still have Tamba Hali on the team, who led the AFC in sacks last season. Hali continues to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Wallace Gilberry was also a factor on defense this week as his pass rush forced Matt Stafford to throw an interception to Jon McGraw.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers threw two interceptions and was sacked twice in both regular season games so far against the Minnesota Vikings and New England Patriots. Rivers has earned a quarterback rating of 90.8 after throwing for four touchdowns, four interceptions and has been sacked four times this season.

While the Chiefs are thin on both sides of the ball, they have Hali, who is one of the best pass rushers in the game today. But can he carry his football team to victory alone?

It would demand him to have the best game of his career and not give Rivers a chance to connect with a receiver in the end zone.

The Chiefs have allowed their first two games against the Buffalo Bills and Detroit Lions to get out of control early and cannot allow that to happen this Sunday if they want a shot at winning. By containing Rivers, the Chiefs defense must invade the Chargers backfield and not give Rivers the time to find a key target.

By doing so, the Chiefs might have a slim chance at winning this game in a low-scoring contest. The only question is, what is the probability of that happening?

We'll find out Sunday.

Follow Farzin Vousoughian at Twitter.com/Farzin21.