The Chargers and three other NFL teams enjoyed not having to play football Sunday, thanks to an unusually early bye week.
Did the football gods favor the Chargers as they relaxed, by debilitating a great player with their No. 1 rival?
For several minutes, that’s how it appeared in Minneapolis, when Chiefs All-Pro Travis Kelce crumbled to the fake grass, slammed his helmet to the ground, hobbled into an injury tent and sat out Kansas City’s next two drives.
Taylor Swift, the new Yoko?
Not so fast.
Kelce returned and made big plays, including a touchdown reception off a fake block, and the AFC West-leading Chiefs held off Kevin O’Connell’s Vikings 27-20. They’re 4-1 after notching their first victory in the Twin Cities since 1996.
Kelce, through whom quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid direct much of Kansas City’s offense, may still be held out of Thursday’s contest against the Broncos (1-4).
But, for now, it appears the Chargers (2-2) will have to contend with the four-time, All-Pro tight end two Sundays from now.
Last time the teams met, Kelce’s touchdown reception against All-Pro safety Derwin James won the game.
Kelce is 15-2 against Team Spanos since Reid drafted him in the third round out of Cincinnati. Antonio Gates, for sure, isn’t surprised by his mastery of against numerous teams’ defenses.
“That young Chiefs tight end looks like he’s going to be really good,” Gates, the longtime Chargers star at tight end, said in 2014 at Chargers Park.
A few days earlier, Gates had seen Kelce, a de facto rookie, grab eight of nine targets from Alex Smith against Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
Now 34, Kelce remains crucial to the Chiefs’ bid for a third Super Bowl victory in his tenure. Their -catching corps, though showing growth, lacks any other stars.
The team’s only loss this year, in the season opener, came with Kelce inactive because of a hyperextended knee.
Boding well for Reid’s progam to win an eighth consecutive West race and host a sixth consecutive AFC title game, the Mahomes offense looked more capable in the two drives Sunday without Kelce than it had for most of the Week 1 contest.
Leading to a field goal and a touchdown, two difficult catches off deep es were made by receiver Justin Watson, a former Bucs draftee and Penn graduate.
Rookie Rashee Rice caught the touchdown as Kelce was sidelined. The SMU alum is emerging as an over-the-middle playmaker who gets tough yards.
For all of the glamour points Kelce has amassed in recent weeks via his relationship with pop star Swift, he’s a football grinder who has sat out just four games in the past 10 years.
Not averse to seeing Reid retire and take Kelce with him, the Chargers have finished behind the Chiefs in all nine years since Kelce ed Reid’s lineup in 2014. And like the Padres under A.J. Preller in his 10 seasons in charge, the Chargers haven’t won any of their 10 West races under John Spanos and Tom Telesco. They’ll gladly take any gifts they can get.
As for O’Connell, the defeat Sunday was a misleading one.
His Vikings did a lot right.
Reflecting well on O’Connell, the former San Diego State quarterback whose expertise lies on offense, the Vikings blocked up Kansas City’s base rush at a high rate for most of the game. Play designs enhanced a good receiving corps headed by Justin Jefferson and impressive rookie Jordan Addison. Despite Jefferson sitting out most of the second half with a leg injury, the Vikings had a chance to drive for a touchdown that would’ve set up a shot at a game-winning two-point try.
Adjusting, Chiefs coordinator Steve Spagnuolo called blitzes that shut down quarterback Kirk Cousins.
However, what denied O’Connell the upset victory as much as any other factor were mistakes by Vikings -catchers. A first-half fumble by tight end Josh Oliver led to a 7-0 deficit. Three teammates dropped es, one of them a potential touchdown.
It was the type of game O’Connell won last year, when the Vikings set an NFL record by winning all 11 games decided by eight points or fewer.
The former Carlsbad resident has been far less fortunate this year, dropping four of five close contests.
