By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Kansas City Chiefs Head Coach Andy Reid, and Chiefs fans, don't need to schedule a stress test anytime soon, they seem to get one almost every week.
For the third time this season, Kansas City saw a kicker knock through a game winning field goal as time expired, this particular one sealing the ninth straight AFC West title for the Chiefs as they beat the Chargers 19-17 at Arrowhead Stadium on Sunday Night Football.
And each time it's been a different kicker getting the job done as Kansas City has seen Harrison Butker, Spencer Schrader, and now Matthew Wright hit the game winning kick, which according to OptaSTATS is the first time in NFL history that a team has had has had more than one kicker do so in a single regular season.
The game however started off pretty smooth for Kansas City, as the Chiefs went into the halftime break with a 13-0 lead. Wright knocked in the only score of the first quarter, a 47 yard field goal, and after he hit a 33 yarder in the second quarter, Patrick Mahomes, with 47 seconds left, found Deandre Hopkins for the fourth time since he joined the Chiefs for a nine yard touchdown pass. Kansas City's halftime lead was its largest of the season and it shut out an opponent in the first half for the first time.
But, starting the second half, the Chargers found the scoreboard capping off a 13 play drive with a seven yard touchdown run by Gus Edwards, and after a three and out by Kansas City, took their first lead of the game on a seven yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert to Quentin Johnston.
Following the touchdown, the Chiefs put together a long drive of their own, which carried into the fourth quarter, where they took the lead back again thanks to Wright who nailed a 50 yard field goal early into the final quarter of regulation. And then, 14 plays later, after Chiefs defensive lineman Tershawn Wharton's sack pinned Los Angeles deep, Chargers kicker Cameron Dicker again put them in the lead with a 37 yard field goal.
With 4:35 left in the game, trailing 17-16, the Chiefs put together another long drive, going 14 plays of their own, the biggest play being a third down conversion pass from Mahomes to Travis Kelce, setting up Wright for the game winning kick, a kick that faded to the left and doinked off the upright and through for the win from 31 yards away.
Kansas City's nine straight division titles are two short of the New England Patriots' NFL record of 11. It was the Chiefs' 15th straight win in a one-score game over the last two seasons.
Mahomes was 24 of 37 passing for 210 yards with one touchdown. Isiah Pacheco led the rushers with 14 carries for 55 yards, while Kelce (five catches, 45 yards) and Xavier Worthy (five catches, 41 yards) led the receivers. With his 45 receiving yards Kelce has 12,010 in his career, trailing only Tony Gonzalez and Jason Witten among tight ends. He is the fastest to reach 12,000 yards among tight ends.
In injury news, in his first game since signing with the Chiefs last week, left tackle DJ Humphries left in the fourth quarter with a hamstring injury.
Kansas City is now 12-1 on the season. Next up they will travel to Cleveland for a matchup with the Browns. Kickoff will be at noon, pregame can be heard at 11am on KFEQ (680AM/95.3FM) and on Q Country 92.7.