Chargers experience further heartbreak as Philip Rivers throws game away
By Travis Wakeman
The Los Angeles Chargers and their fans have seen this show before.
It was almost a predictable script. The Chargers were going to play the Kansas City Chiefs tough and Philip Rivers was going to have a chance to lead his team to a victory in the final seconds, only to blow it. And that’s exactly what happened.
The Chiefs were able to take a 24-9 lead in the third quarter following Patrick Mahomes‘ first and only touchdown pass of the game on a beautiful throw to Travis Kelce. But from that point, the defense fought and scratched to get the ball back for the offense and Rivers continued to turn the ball over.
After holding the Chiefs to a three-and-out with 4:30 remaining in the game, Rivers threw a deep ball to Andre Patton on 3rd-and-10. Patton wasn’t open and the ball was intercepted. Cameras showed Rivers mouthing the words “it’s fine, it’s just like a punt”.
The Chiefs then aimed to run out the rest of the clock, but the defense held up when Melvin Ingram scored a third-down sack of Mahomes, giving Rivers and the offense one more chance.
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It didn’t look positive until Rivers connected with Mike Williams on a 50-yard completion on 3rd-and-15. With under one minute to play, the Chargers were out of time outs. After an 11-yard completion to Austin Ekeler, Rivers then took a shot to the end zone to Ekeler and it looked like it was there, but Chiefs safety Daniel Sorenson jumped up and plucked the ball out of the air.
Rivers fell to the turf in disgust following his fourth interception of the game.
The Chargers fall to 4-7 on the season and just about any hope for the playoffs is all but gone at this point. The team will have its bye week before returning in Week 13 with a road game against the Denver Broncos.