Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers ready for AFC showdown on Thursday night
Watch Chargers @ Chiefs, live on Sky Sports Action from 12.30am on Friday morning
Thursday 13 December 2018 13:29, UK
It's crunch time. There is no way around it.
On Thursday night, the 11-2 Kansas City Chiefs meet the 10-3 Los Angeles Chargers in a matchup of epic proportions.
Is it a knockout game? No. But it will feel very much like an early playoff game.
As it stands, one of these teams looks likely to be the number one seed in the AFC, while the other will be left as a very strong-looking fifth seed for Wild Card weekend.
Both would be favoured to win on the road against the current fourth seeds - the Chargers have already beaten the Steelers in Pittsburgh, as have the Chiefs, while Kansas City also took down the Ravens last week and L.A. are set to face them in Week 16.
Looking at Thursday's meeting between the two teams from the West, we could begin with Patrick Mahomes, whose jaw-dropping deep throws and no-look passes make him the leading candidate for the MVP award. Meanwhile, there is Tyreek Hill, the electric runner/receiver/return man who has found the end zone 32 times in less than three years in the league.
What about the addition of safety Derwin James to the Chargers? He's playing like an All-Pro and team captain already as a rookie. Or Joey Bosa's return for L.A? Four sacks in his last three games have given another tremendous boost to a fearsome unit.
Instead, let's first talk about what this year means to two long-term greats in this league - Chiefs head coach Andy Reid and Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers.
Look down the list of the winningest head coaches in history and it's littered with championships. Don Schula, George Halas, Bill Belichick and plenty more names who have hoisted the Vince Lombardi trophy, including his greatness himself.
At seventh in all-time wins with 205 in the regular season and playoffs combined sits Reid. But that ring has always eluded him, despite consistent success in Philadelphia and now in his current coaching term.
With one more win, Reid will move past Marty Schottenheimer as the head coach with the most all-time wins without a championship.
Rivers is in a similar situation among quarterbacks. Of the top seven active players in career wins, only Rivers doesn't have a Super Bowl to his name. In all-time victories, he is 11th with 120. Only one of the top 10 didn't win it all: Dan Marino.
Reid's influence on offensive football and Rivers' gunslinging, fiery nature and 'shot put-style' throwing technique will not be forgotten either, but the pair will go underappreciated by future generations if they can't get over the hump. And what better year than this one?
The Chargers reached one Super Bowl in the 1994 season and lost. The Chiefs haven't reached the big dance since 1969, when they secured their first and only victory in Super Bowl IV.
Both teams are red hot and boast the best records in the AFC, and both have elite talent all over the field. Can they make the most of the opportunity in front of them?
For Kansas City, there's Mahomes, the quarterback prodigy with the baseball pitcher's arm and easily this year's most talked-about breakout star. His 43 passing touchdowns lead the league, as do his 4,300 passing yards.
Hill, aptly named 'Cheetah', can score from anywhere.
Also in the red corner is the man once known as 'Baby Gronk', Travis Kelce, who has stepped out of the Patriots All-Pro's shadow to emerge as arguably the best tight end in the game.
They are led by 'Big Red' Reid, who players love and coaches admire - his coaching tree boasts a group including active Super Bowl winners John Harbaugh and Doug Pederson. And, let's be honest, no ones bring the Christmas cheer quite like Reid, who bears a striking resemblance to Santa himself.
Meanwhile, Rivers leads this Chargers team with confidence bordering on cockiness. But he backs it up. He's the five-a-side player you can't stand to play against, but love to play with. He'll trash talk you all game, then hug you at the end of it. Second-year head coach Anthony Lynn has his QB playing at potentially the highest level of his career.
Keenan Allen, Rivers' top target, also oozes swagger. You'll see him dancing before the game, after, and likely during, as he hauls in catch after catch - he has 190 of them since the start of last season.
Where Kansas City perhaps fall down, at defense, the Chargers excel - a secondary to rival the best in the league: corners capable of getting in opposing receivers' faces and giving them nightmares, and safeties with the ability to do both that and come up with game-wrecking run stops. James flies around the field and could be the most dangerous defender on it.
Or that mantle could go to the unblockable Bosa, who has 27 sacks, 32 tackles for losses, and 48 hits in just 32 career games. He missed the first matchup between these two - a 38-28 win for the Chiefs on opening weekend - but could easily be the difference this time around. Chiefs defensive end Chris Jones will argue, however, he is just as much of a force off the edge, having taken down opposing quarterbacks in nine straight games.
Even without Kareem Hunt (Chiefs) - released after off-the-field charges - and Melvin Gordon (Chargers), injured, this game features two of the best squads in the league, led by two NFL legends who crave a title more than most.
Now is the time. This is the year. Chances at a championship are rare, and repeat success is not promised - just look at every team to appear in the Super Bowl in recent years outside of New England.
On Thursday night, it is another opportunity for both these teams to prove they are ready to go the whole way.
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