San Diego Chargers Lose to the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-14

Say what you want, just remember two things when remembering how this happened.

1. The Kansas City Chiefs are as good as they hoped they would be. Their running game is good, their special teams is fantastic and the rest is good enough to keep them in every game. They will probably be the Chargers biggest divisional foe in 2010.
2. This was a screwy game, mostly because of the torrential rain that came down through most of the game. Also, the updated Arrowhead seems like it can be as dominant as the old Arrowhead was and really make it difficult for anybody to win there. Add in things like the Chargers have 1 turnover (Ryan Mathews having a rain-soaked ball stripped from him) to the Chiefs 0, and you can see just how different this game was than either of the matchups last year.

In the end, there just wasn't enough time once the rain had stopped for the Chargers to do anything but throw the ball. The new offensive gameplan of building a lead through balance never got started because Philip Rivers couldn't throw when it was raining and there was no time left to run once it had stopped and the team was down by 14 points.

If I had to name a game MVP, I have no idea who I'd choose. Jamaal Charles? Dexter McCluster? Each had a long TD, but neither really did much else. Brandon Carr? Yeah, I'd probably pick Brandon Carr. He dominated Malcom Floyd for most of the game and came up big when he needed to at the end. Javier Arenas is another possible candidate because he played nickel CB very well in addition to being a huge threat on punt returns.

This isn't really something to get in an uproar about. If I hear anything about "Fire Norv" or "We need Vincent Jackson back", I might just scream. The bottom line is that the Chiefs were going to be a tough matchup for anybody on the opening night of the new Arrowhead. The rain helped them, and their rookies came through. Would they beat the Chargers on a neutral field on a sunny day? It's certainly possible, but their win tonight doesn't necessarily mean they're a better team. The 2010 season will let us know that over the next few weeks, but at the very least....football is back.

Silver Lining: The Chargers next 5 games are against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Seattle Seahawks, Arizona Cardinals, Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams.