Samaje Perine snapped a fourth-quarter tie with a short touchdown run and Patrick Mahomes shrugged off a slow start to throw for 245 yards as the visiting Kansas City Chiefs stayed unbeaten with a 17-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday.
Mahomes completed 19 of 29 passes with a touchdown and an interception and overcame the early loss of receiver Rashee Rice, who caught 24 passes in the team’s first three games. Rice left Sunday’s contest in the first quarter due to a knee injury and didn’t return.
ESPN later reported the team fears Rice suffered a torn ACL.
Travis Kelce picked up the slack with Rice out and finished with season-high totals of seven catches for 89 yards, while Perine put Kansas City (4-0) ahead for good with a 2-yard scoring plunge with 6:04 remaining in the game.
Justin Herbert hit on 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown for Los Angeles (2-2), which managed only 224 total yards and 12 first downs.
The pregame storyline was centered around how Los Angeles would cope with a short-handed offensive line that didn’t feature either starting tackle due to injuries sustained in last week’s 20-10 loss in Pittsburgh.
But the Chargers got off to a fast start anyway, thanks in large part to Kansas City mistakes. After recovering a Carson Steele fumble at its own 26 just over two minutes into the game, Los Angeles marched 74 yards for a 7-0 lead that came on Herbert’s 7-yard touchdown pass to rookie Ladd McConkey.
Kristian Fulton then intercepted Mahomes on the Chiefs’ next snap. While trying to tackle Fulton, Mahomes dove helmet first into Rice’s knee. Rice was carted off the field and Los Angeles soon made it 10-0 on Cameron Dicker’s 50-yard field goal.
Kansas City struck back with 4:06 left in the first half on the first play after a punt. Mahomes unleashed a bomb that Xavier Worthy grabbed for a 54-yard score. The Chiefs had a chance to tally again before the break, but two holding penalties forced them to settle for a 65-yard field-goal try that Harrison Butker missed as time expired.
–Field Level Media
