The 3 real reasons why the Chargers lost to the Chiefs on Thursday Night Football

2. The Chargers secondary was incredibly banged up

The narrative on the Chiefs side of the game is going to be that the offense is back and the rest of the league should watch out. While the Chiefs offense is better than it was at its worst points this season, this was more than just the Chiefs' offense having some incredible game. They definitely deserve credit for going out and executing, but the Chargers were seriously short-staffed in the secondary.

And it showed multiple times in this game as well. There were several times in which Patrick Mahomes would be pressured, slide out of the pocket and the secondary just could not hold up. There were several plays in which Chiefs' pass-catchers were wide-open and it is not hard to see why based on what the Chargers were dealing with.

First of all, the team was without Asante Samuel Jr. for the entire game as he missed yet another game being in concussion protocol. The real flipping point of the game was when Derwin James reaggravated his hamstring injury. As soon as James exited the game you saw things click for the Chiefs and that was not by accident.

The Bolts were also without their third and fourth string safety. Trey Marshall had to play 33 snaps in this game. The secondary was extremely banged-up and the Chiefs took full advantage. There is no better example of that being the case than Kelce's game-winning touchdown in which nobody even touched him.

If Derwin James stays healthy do the Chargers win this game? Maybe they do, maybe they don't. We certainly know that Kelce would not have had that game-winning touchdown, though.