The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers, 33-3, in a pre-Thanksgiving AFC West Division match-up Nov. 22 at Qualcomm Stadium that served as a triumphant homecoming for Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, who attended Bonita Vista Middle School and Helix High School prior to starring at the University of Utah and earning accolades as the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers.
Smith said he had a “good group” of local friends and family who attended the game to cheer him on. He rewarded them by out-dueling record-setting San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers in the key divisional game.
Smith completed 20 of 25 passing attempts for 253 yards and tacked on 33 rushing yards on seven carries to finish the game with a 108.8 quarterback rating.
Rivers completed 19 of 30 passing attempts for 149 yards with one interception for a 65.7 quarterback rating.
The Chiefs out-gained the Chargers in both passing yards and rushing yards (153 to 52). Spencer Ware gained 98 yards on 11 carries and scored two touchdowns for the Chiefs while Dontan Poe scored on a one-yard run. Ware ripped off one 52-yard gainer in the game – equal to the total rushing yards by the Chargers in the game.
The win was the fourth consecutive for Kansas City and evened its record at 5-5 to place the Chiefs squarely back in the AFC wildcard race. The loss was the sixth consecutive for San Diego and dropped iits record to 2-8.
The Chargers, playing listlessly, appear all but out of this year’s playoff chase.
“I feel really good about the team,” Smith said. “We felt prepared, the guys were on the same page, credit to the whole group,” Smith told the media during the Chiefs’ post-game press conference.
The teams entered the game with combined records of 7-12, but the win for the Chiefs was an important one as it kept the team’s playoff chances alive.
Kansas City head coach Andy Reid called the win over the Chargers “all in all, a good win.”
“I still consider (San Diego) a good team,” Reid explained to the media. “There’s a very small margin in this league between winning and losing. They’ve had some unfortunate things happen to them with injuries and trying to get guys back. Offensively, they scare you to death with their firepower, Their quarterback is playing like no other. Their defense is getting guys back.
“I give credit to our defense. I think our defense played a good football game all the way around. We’re playing confident but it’s important to keep building on that. In this league, you strive to be better, keep working your game.”
Smith, who has now passed for 2,426 yards with 10 touchdowns and three interceptions, directed Kansas City to five scoring drives in the win over the Chargers. Besides the three rushing touchdowns scored by the Chiefs, Cairo Santos kicked two field goals and Justin Houston returned an intercepted pass 17 yards for a touchdown.
Kansas City led, 6-0, after the first quarter and 12-3 at halftime. The visitors took a 19-3 lead into the fourth quarter where they scored two touchdowns to seal their victory.
The Chargers, who rarely crossed midfield in the game, could muster only a 52-yard field goal by Josh Lambo in the second quarter.
Prior to defeating the Chargers, the Chiefs recorded a huge 29-13 win over the AFC West leading Denver Broncos in the Mile High City. Smith passed for 204 yards and one touchdown in out-dueling the legendary Peyton Manning and Denver back-up Brock Osweiler. Manning, who is nearing retirement at 39, completed just five to 20 passes for 35 yards with four interceptions. Overall, the two Broncos signal-callers were picked off five times and combined for 152 passing yards.
The Chiefs’ four-game winning streak started with victories against the Pittsburgh Steelers (23-13 on Oct. 25) and the Detroit Lions (45-10 on Nov. 1 in a game played in London).
All five of Kansas City’s remaining opponents are currently sporting records no better than .500.
The Chiefs play the Oakland Raiders (4-6) twice while also facing the Chargers (in Kansas City), the Baltimore Ravens (3-7) and the Cleveland Browns.
Teams vying for wildcard playoff berths besides Kansas City and Buffalo include the Steelers (6-4), New York Jets (5-5), Houston Texans (5-5), Miami Dolphins (4-6), Jacksonville Jaguars (4-6) and the Raiders.
Current AFC division leaders include the New England Patriots (10-0), Cincinnati Bengals (8-2), Broncos (8-2) and Indianapolis Colts (5-5).
Both Smith and Reid expressed pride in how their team has rebounded from its 1-5 start to the season. The Chiefs host Buffalo (5-5) on Sunday, Nov. 29, in search of their fifth consecutive victory and separation from several other teams in the wildcard playoff race.
“I’m proud of the guys for the character that they have,” Reid said. “They could have easily gone the other way, coaches and players for that matter. They didn’t do that. They have played their hearts out. They’ll continue to do that because that’s how they’re wired. It’s important we strive to get better. We’ve got so much room to to do that, it’s crazy.”
When Smith was asked if this might be the last time he plays in a game at Qualcomm Stadium, he appeared visibly saddened.
“Some of my earliest memories of football are at this stadium as a kid running around the stadium watching the Chargers play, watching Aztecs play – things I’ll never forget coming here to watch football and being able to play here,” he answered with a genuine sense of melancholy in his voice. “Playing in high school, this was the big deal to get here, and coming back here in college and the pros has been special.”
If Smith and the Chiefs can continue to stay hot at the right time, it just might turn out to be a special season for the team as a whole.
Bears score big win over Packers
The Chicago Bears under head coach John Fox (Castle Park High School) also continue to make progress in the second half of the season after recording a 17-13 upset win over the host Green Bay Packers in a Thanksgiving Day NFC North Division clash broadcast nationally on NBC-TV’s “Sunday Night Football.”
The win was the third in four games for the Bears, who improved their season record to 5-6 and officially entered their name in the NFC wildcard playoff hunt. Chicago trailed early, 7-0, but battled back to tie the game courtesy of a turnover by the division leading Packers (7-4). The Bears erased a 10-7 Packers lead to go ahead 14-13 at halftime and upped that lead to 17-13 after taking advantage of another turnover by host Green Bay, which formally retired the No. 4 jersey of former star quarterback Brett Favre.
“It was a good team effort defensively,” noted Fox. “We struggled against the run, being consistent against but made the adjustments and played pretty well. We came off a tough loss at home (17-15 against the Denver Broncos, Fox’s former team), We had to flush that really fast. I like our group of guys as far as they go about their business. They’re willing to work, they flushed it fast.
“The Sunday to Thursday thing is tricky, you have to recover fast. Our guys did a good job of refreshing themselves. It wasn’t about who we were playing or where we were playing, it was about us.”
Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler passed for 200 yards and one touchdown while Jeremy Langford scored one rushing touchdown in sloppy conditions that featured driving rain and a temperature of 35 degrees. Cutler connected with Zach Miller to put the Bears ahead and Robbie Gould later supplied a 21-yard field goal after the visitors had penetrated inside the Green Bay five-yard line. The Chicago scoring drive started after Chris Prosinski forced a fumble by the Packers’ Eddie Lacy that was recovered by teammate Lamarr Houston.
Lacy had dominated the game on the ground with 105 rushing yards and scored the game’s opening touchdown.
Green Bay signal-caller Aaron Rodgers passed for 202 yards with one touchdown and one interception on the stormy night. He injured his hand late in the game. However, he still drove his team into position to win the game but failed on a fourth-down pass inside the Bears’ 10-yard line.
Defensive leaders for Chicago included Adrian Amos with eight tackles along with Houston and Willie Young, each of whom were credited with sacks. Houston and Prosinski each recorded six tackles while Tracy Porter had one interception.
“Coach Fox has been sending a message and guys have been listening to him,” Cutler said.
The Bears face a winnable schedule in their remaining five regular season games. They host San Francisco (3-7) and Washington (5-5) in their next two home games before closing the season with games at Minnesota (7-3) and Tampa Bay (4-6) and a home contest against Detroit (4-7).
However, nothing is a given after Detroit upset the Philadelphia Eagles, 45-14, in another Thanksgiving Day match-up.
Chicago put together a two-game winning streak with key wins over the Chargers (22-10 on Nov. 9) and St. Louis Rams (37-13 on Nov. 15) before dropping the5 non-conference game to Denver.
In the win over the Rams, Cutler passed for 258 yards and three touchdowns, including two scores to Zach Miller, while Jeremy Langford scored one rushing touchdown.
The Packers have now lost four of their last five games after starting the season 6-0.
It’s in the Cards
Eastlake High School alumnus Tony Jefferson and his Arizona Cardinals are soaring at the moment with an 8-2 record atop the NFC West after recording a pair of monumental wins over Seattle and Cincinnati in recent weeks.
Arizona defeated Seattle, last year’s Super Bowl finalist, by a score of 39-32 in a key divisional encounter in the Pacific Northwest on Nov. 15.
Carson Palmer rallied the Cardinals with 363 passing yards and three touchdowns after being the victim of two strip-fumbles earlier in the game that led to a pair of scores by the Seahawks.
Jefferson recorded four tackles and two pass deflections in the win.
Andre Ellington scored on a rushing touchdown with 1:58 to play in the game to provide Arizona with its final margin of victory. Michael Floyd caught two scoring passes for the victors.
Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson finished the game with 240 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception.
The Cardinals defeated visiting Cincinnati, 34-31, on Nov. 22, while rallying from a 14-7 halftime deficit. The hosts racked up 21 points in the third quarter only to have the Bengals, coming off their first loss of the season the previous week to the Houston Texans, piled up 17 points in the fourth quarter. It took a 32-yard field goal by Arizona’s Chandler Cantazaro with two seconds left to break a 31-31 tie.
Palmer finished the game with 317 passing yards and four touchdowns. J.J. Nelson led Cardinal receivers with six catches for 142 yards and one TD.
Cincy’s Andy Dalton passed for 315 yards and two touchdowns in a losing cause. Giovani Bernard led the Bengals with 10 catches for 128 yards while Tyler Eifert caught two scoring passes.
Jefferson was not credited with a tackle in the win over Cincinnati. He has 48 tackles, two forced fumbles, five pass deflections and two interceptions this season (one for a touchdown against Chicago and another to preserve a win over Baltimore).
The Cardinals face a pair of NFC West foes in their upcoming two games – Nov. 29 at San Francisco and Dec. 6 at St. Louis.
