Herbert and Chargers shock Chiefs 

(News4usonline) – The Los Angeles Chargers may have shaken the leaves from the tree after beating the Kansas City Chiefs in their season-opening game played in Brazil. This wasn’t merely a big win by the Chargers against their longtime AFC West Division rivals. 

LA’s 27-21 win was huge, in terms of how the Chargers played the Chiefs, and how quarterback Justin Herbert responded. Yes, it’s just one game. That means it’s one game. 

A whole lot of Sunday and Monday morning quarterbacks will no doubt share their opinions about what went wrong for the Chiefs and what went right for the Chargers.

What went right for the Chargers is that they played the kind of tough-nosed football that head coach Jim Harbaugh brought to the team last season. At the start of his second season leading the Chargers, Harbaugh has much of the gritty defense and makes the right plays on offense that his brother, John Harbaugh, has established for the Baltimore Ravens. 

The score is somewhat deceptive in that the Chargers played like the superior ballclub against the Chiefs. It used to be the other way around. And you knew, eventually, that Patrick Mahomes would somehow rally Kansas City back to victory. Not this time. 

A big-time scramble by Herbert, who showed off his accuracy all night with a 318-yard and three touchdowns performance, in the waning moments of the game, rebuked that opportunity for Mahomes and the Chiefs. 

Actually, Herbert pulled a Mahomes-like play out of his hat to help the Chargers erase that nasty taste in their mouths from last season’s postseason bottleneck job against the Houston Texans. 

Then again, Herbert always looks refreshed and at the top of his game at the beginning of the season. In case anyone needed a reminder, after completing 25 of 34 passes and running for another 32 yards, Herbert flexed his dual-threat skills on his game-clinching run. 

Sometimes, it’s quite baffling when defenses don’t always know how to guard against Herbert’s not-so-secret weapon (his feet) like the Chiefs did. Like all of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, Herbert can beat a defense with both his arm and legs. 

That was clearly on display against the Chiefs, who last had their hard hats handed to them by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. The win by the Chargers over the Chiefs could mean a lot of things, or it simply could mean nothing at all, except it was just an “L” in the loss column. 

Clearly, though, what the Chargers signaled to the Chiefs is that the good old days of Kansas City running supreme in the division just may be over. In Kansas City’s last two games (including the Super Bowl), the Chiefs have been thoroughly outplayed. 

That Mahomes’ magic seemed to have evaporated in those two games, and he has not looked extraordinary as he had in the Chiefs’ three Super Bowl victories. Not having a dynamic, super-speedy wideout like Tyreek Hill might have a little something to do with that.  

Mahomes and the Chiefs have played in five of the last six Super Bowl games. They have virtually owned the AFC West Division the past decade, winning nine straight crowns. The win by the Chargers may suggest that the Chiefs’ dominance within the division is over. 

That will be determined sometime in late December or early January. 

Featured Image: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL – SEPTEMBER 5: Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert #10 runs downfield during the NFL game between Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs on September 5, 2025, at Corinthians Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Leandro Bernardes/PxImages/Icon Sportswire)