San Diego Chargers Will Lose: Kansas City Chiefs

Prime Time

No, not Deion.

The San Diego Chargers have been absolutely terrible in prime time this season. They beat an Oakland Raiders team that was playing without a special teams unit, sure, but they were embarrassed by the New Orleans Saints on Sunday Night Football and embarrassed by the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football. Would it surprise anyone if San Diego again played their worst game in front of a national audience on Thursday Night Football?

Criticism, as a way to correct stupidity

As far as the NFL goes, I am a firm believer that stupid coaches can sometimes be convinced to make smart decisions. How this typically happens is that the coach does something so stupid that everyone else on the face of the planet can see the stupidity in it. In response to an outpouring of criticism, the coach swings in completely the opposite direction, which was usually the right decision to begin with.

I'll give you an example. Here's what the Chiefs have done in 2012 when Jamaal Charles gets 25+ touches:

• Win over New Orleans Saints
• 2 point Loss to the Baltimore Ravens

Oh, I can hear you already with your mocking chants of "RUN MOAR". That's not what this is about. The reason I went with "touches" instead of carries is because you can give your best player the ball in different situations without needing to have a lead or for it to be a close game.

Last week, despite the fact that the Chiefs were within a touchdown for more than 40 minutes, Jamaal Charles ended up with 8 touches (5 runs, 3 catches) and Peyton Hillis got 5 touches (4 carries, 1 catch). With Matt Cassel running your offense, that's the wrong offensive strategy and everyone knows it.

This week, expect a gigantic swing back in the other direction. Unless the game gets out of hand, Hillis and Charles should each get 20+ touches to limit the damage Matt Cassel can cause.

Philip Rivers

Look, it's time that he's thrown into one of these "Chargers Will Lose" posts.

Rivers hasn't had a good game since the last time the Chargers played the Chiefs, when he hit Eddie Royal and Jackie Battle on a couple of 4-yard touchdown passes and Antonio Gates dominated Eric Berry all game. To expect him to have the exact same output against the exact same team is to not understand the NFL or how coaching works. It's just as likely that Rivers will have a game like the one he had against the Broncos than it is that he'll repeat that performance. The outcome of this game depends on which Rivers shows up.