3 distinct advantages the Chargers have over the Chiefs in 2022

The Kansas City Chiefs are the top dogs in the AFC West. While many people might like the LA Chargers more on paper, the Chiefs are the team who have dominated the division that the Chargers have to get through in 2022 and beyond.

The Bolts have played pretty well against the Chiefs over the last few seasons with the team's losses even being close. Heck, the last two times that Kansas City beat the Chargers it took overtime to do so.

While the Chiefs are undoubtedly a formidable foe, the Chargers have the weapons to not just go toe-to-toe with them next season, but outright end their AFC West winning streak as well. The Bolts still have to go out and win the games every week, but with these advantages in mind, Chargers fans have to feel good.

Here are 3 distinct advantages the LA Chargers have over the Kansas City Chiefs:

1. The schedule

The Chargers are on the tougher half of schedules in the 2022 season but they do not nearly have as hard of a schedule as the Chiefs do. The difference between the Chargers and Chiefs on Warren Sharp's strength of schedule (which is far more accurate as it uses 2022 win totals rather than 2021 winning percentage) is staggering.

The Chargers have the 13th-hardest schedule in the league while the Chiefs have the absolute toughest. Kansas City doesn't just have the toughest schedule in the league but they are in their own ballpark. There is not a single team that is even close to them, which should be really concerning for Chiefs fans.

There is a world in which the Chiefs, especially if they lose both games to the Chargers, only win nine games next season with how hard their schedule is. The Chargers have to take full advantage of that and have to dig a bigger hole for KC by beating them head-to-head.

2. A better receiving corps

The Kansas City Chiefs lost their no. 1 receiver in Tyreek Hill this offseason as the team traded him to the Miami Dolphins. Chiefs fans will sit there and tell you that the team replaced Hill with numbers by bringing in the likes of Juju Smith-Schuster, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Skyy Moore.

However, Hill is undoubtedly one of the five best receivers in the league and is in the elite tier of receivers that simply do not come along often. It is impossible to replace that, especially considering none of the players they brought in are surefire things.

Granted, Patrick Mahomes will elevate his wide receivers but Justin Herbert also elevates his receivers and has better receivers to elevate. The Chargers are one of just a few teams that have two top-20 receivers in the league on the same roster.

The Chiefs do have Travis Kelce, who obviously cannot be ignored. However, Kelce is getting older and there was a big portion of last season where he was not the same person. The Chargers' tight end room is being severely overlooked and is one of the deepest in the league. They don't have Kelce but they definitely can hold their own.

Plus, the Chargers also have one of the best, if not the best, dual-threat running backs in the league in Austin Ekeler. This is the fewest weapons that Patrick Mahomes has had in his career and for the first time in his career, he has fewer than the Chargers do.

3. A much better defense

The Achilles Heel for the Kansas City Chiefs during the team's current run has always been the defense. There have been times when the Chiefs have figured it out and played good defense but for the most part, that has been the weak part of the team.

There was a lot of buzz last season that the Chiefs figured out the defensive side of the football as they strung together a few good performances. However, when you took a look under the hood, it became clear that their defensive turnaround had more to do with who they were playing.

The Chargers had no problems scoring 28 points against them late in the season and if Brandon Staley was not as aggressive on fourth down, the Chargers would have scored over 30.

To be fair, the Bolts were one of the worst defensive teams in the league last season, so a Chiefs fan might look at this as simply being biased. While the Chargers were awful defensively last season, the team has completely rebuilt that side of the football this offseason.

LA added an entirely new interior defensive line, an All-Pro edge rusher (who is not an All-Pro anymore but is still very, very good), a true CB1 and plenty of secondary depth. The Chargers have the tools to be more like the 2020 Rams defense that Brandon Staley coached to be first in the league.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs lost key members of the secondary and had to rebuild. To be fair to them, Trent McDuffie is a fantastic pick-up as he should be great in the league, but overall, the defensive side of the ball got even worse in Kansas City.

MUST-READ: 3 best-kept secrets on the Chargers roster

As long as the Chargers do not get in their own way, they should be able to outlast the Chiefs in the AFC West race while also having a good chance of beating the team twice.