For the Chiefs to overcome the Chargers as they did Sunday night, they needed Patrick Mahomes to do more than play well.

He had to outplay Justin Herbert.

Mahomes, 29, is being paid to outperform Herbert, 26, in these close intradivisional games. That’s because Mahomes costs his team $17.7 million more against the salary cap.

It takes greatness to outperform Herbert, who’s very good and improving under Jim Harbaugh, and that’s what the Kansas CIty QB pulled off in leading the Chiefs to a 19-17 victory that bolstered their bid for the AFC’s top seed.

Herbert turned in a good game.

Mahomes cleared a higher bar, making crucial difficult plays down the stretch after overcoming a stunning number of first-half hits.

For sure, the Chiefs provided Mahomes a much better trio of interior blockers and the better pass-catchers. Herbert, for his part, worked behind the far better tackle tandem. Edge, Mahomes.

L.A. fielded the better defense, despite Chiefs coordinator Steve Spagnuolo standing among the all-time greats. Jesse Minter’s Chargers unit has had the better season, and Kansas City’s cornerback situation has deteriorated.

Posing a huge challenge for Mahomes throughout the game were de-stabilizing mismatches at tackle versus Bolts edge rushers.

Mahomes did well to avoid injury, while also committing no turnovers in a chaotic first half in which the Chargers sacked him three times and amassed 11 total hits on him. The QB hits were the most to open a game by a Chargers defense since 2000.

Trifecta stood out

When it mattered most, Mahomes got the better of L.A.’s NFL-leading defense with three special plays. They came within a 14-play, 47-yard drive that consumed the game clock’s final 4:35. Then came a backup kicker’s 31-yard-field goal that hit the left upright and went through.

An acrobatic throw by Mahomes helped the Chiefs convert a third-and-10. It came after Mahomes bought time within the pocket against a five-man rush.

A Mahomes scramble, which punished Tuli Tuipulota for rushing too far upfield, turned second-and-8 into a first down.

The QB’s final gem ensured the final outcome would come down to a short kick.

Mahomes eluded Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley in the open field, allowing him to complete a third-and-7 pass to tight end Travis Kelce.

Henley had a direct shot at Mahomes off the QB’s rollout right, from under center. Henley leads L.A. in tackles. Long-armed, agile and fast, the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder’s tackling prowess got him drafted in the third round out of Washington State in 2023.

“Wraps up and rarely misses…can adjust and chase down scrambling quarterbacks,” wrote the former NFL scouts at Ourlads.com.

The Chargers never accounted for Kelce, who ran an upside-down J-route into a zone’s void. The completion allowed the Chiefs to run off most of the final two minutes.

Teaching moments

Herbert had his own fine moments. He led a pair of touchdown drives, one more than Mahomes.

But he had one large miscue and perhaps a second big one as well.

He overthrew Josh Palmer, a teammate since 2021, as the receiver ran free on a deep route. The game’s most consequential misfire by either QB, it kept the Chargers out of field-goal range and may have denied them a first-half TD.

It was curious that during L.A.’s final drive, Herbert didn’t try to exploit a favorable matchup that Chargers play-designers seemed to set up.

An injury at cornerback, where the Chiefs were already subpar, brought on Keith Taylor, a third-stringer who’d played only three snaps. Taylor lined up to Herbert’s left on second-and-9 from K.C.’s 17. The Chargers correctly anticipated man coverage. The play created a rub that would force Taylor to communicate with a teammate and to track speedster Derius Davis on a shallow crossing route.

Davis ran free, leaving Taylor far behind.

Herbert never looked toward Davis. Off a one-step shotgun drop, he looked only to his right, where Trent McDuffie — by far K.C.’s best cornerback — was in press coverage against backup receiver D.J. Chark.

Seeing McDuffie shadow Chark, Herbert pulled the ball down and was promptly sacked. The short field goal moved the Chargers ahead. But a TD would’ve moved L.A. ahead 21-16.

If there’s a rematch this postseason, Herbert will try to apply lessons and improve his record against Mahomes. The Chargers QB has beaten his Chiefs counterpart just once in eight tries.

Originally Published: December 9, 2024 at 7:14 PM PST