The Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs game went as expected, as the Bolts lost a decisive victory at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday falling to their rivals with a 31-17 final score.
Many factors likely led to the team falling to an abysmal 2-4 record, but it appears that the defense is taking on the blame for allowing star tight end Travis Kelce to manhandle that side of the ball all day long.
Head coach Brandon Staley told reporters that the team played "man," but that was not a feeling shared by the defense. Star cornerback Michael Davis told Daniel Popper of The Athletic that the defensive scheme was far different.
"We played zone,” cornerback Michael Davis said of the first-half game plan. “(Kelce) just goes to the spot and turns around. It has nothing to do with Travis. It’s us. We got to get on their ass. When you come down and you play the Chiefs, you got to come out and play man and get on their ass.”
The fact that Staley and Davis have different ideas about the defensive scheme that was used in trying to stop Mahomes and Kelce from putting up ridiculous numbers, reveals a telling story.
Kelce had his way with the middle of the field, even coming up with a touchdown that required his team to shove him into the endzone. By all accounts, that should have been stopped.
“We played a little bit too much zone in the first half,” James said. “He was just getting behind our linebackers. He was getting open. In the second half, we switched it up.”
The second-half adjustment worked well, as the Chargers defense only coughed up one touchdown compared to the three that occurred in the second quarter.
Even if defensively the team had a rough start, they can't be held accountable all the way through. Justin Herbert only completed 43.8% of his second-half passes, with two being costly interceptions.
The team will need to clean things up on both sides of the ball if they are going to climb out of this losing record and stay relevant in the AFC West, let alone secure a playoff spot in the stacked AFC.
Staley is on the hot seat already, but he might already be losing the locker room this season.
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