Chargers @ Chiefs

The Chargers beat Kansas City twice in 2025. Now they arrive 0-5 to face 4-0.

A year ago the Chargers went 11-6, made the playoffs and beat Kansas City twice, 27-21 in Week 1 and 16-13 at Arrowhead in Week 15, while the Chiefs finished 6-11. Five games into 2026 the two AFC West rivals have traded places: Kansas City is 4-0 coming off its open week, and the Chargers are 0-5 for the first time since 2003. Five other teams since 1999 started 0-5 the season after a playoff trip, and none of the 48 teams that started 0-5 from 1999 to 2025 reached the playoffs. Six times since 1999 a team with no wins and at least five losses has met a team with at least four wins and no losses; the winless team won once. The question Sunday at Arrowhead is whether the Chargers' defense, sixth in the league, can keep this close for an offense that has scored 84 points in five games.

The Chargers lost 23-17 at home to Denver in Week 5, and their offense posted minus 0.397 expected points per play, 29th of 30 teams that played, after minus 0.023 and 25th across 2025; the defense allowed minus 0.271, seventh of the week, close to its seventh place 2025 form. Kansas City had no Week 5 game. It won 30-27 against the Raiders in Week 4 with plus 0.130 per play on offense, ninth of the week, after plus 0.035 and 11th in 2025. Each is one game, set beside a full season.

Why it matters. This division rivalry flipped in one year: the 2025 playoff team is winless and the 6-11 team is unbeaten, and the team that is winless won both meetings last season, including at Arrowhead. History is harsh on 0-5 starts, and harsher on winless teams that meet unbeaten ones, but the one exception in that table came from a team with a strong recent past, like this one. The Chargers' defense is still a top-10 unit, so the game turns on whether their offense, last in the league, can stay on the field. Each collision below is a piece of that.

Herbert has been sacked 17 times. Kansas City has no sacks since Week 1.

Justin Herbert has been sacked 17 times on 160 dropbacks, 10.6 percent, the second highest rate in the league, and five of them came against Denver in Week 5. The Chargers allowed a 9.6 percent rate in 2025, fifth highest, so this is a 2025 problem running at a higher rate, not a new one. Kansas City's pass rush sits at the opposite end: four sacks in four games, all four against Denver in Week 1, and none on the 117 dropbacks since, a 2.7 percent rate tied with Miami for the lowest in the league, after 6.4 percent and 19th in 2025. The Chargers' Week 5 injury report listed tackle Joe Alt Out with a neck injury and guards Kayode Awosika and Trevor Penning Out; there is no Week 6 report yet. If Kansas City sacks Herbert on either of the Chargers' first two drives, its Week 1 pass rush is back; if Herbert has a clean first quarter, the Chargers can run the offense that beat Kansas City twice in 2025.

Why it matters. The Chargers' most persistent problem meets the Chiefs' weakest phase. Herbert was sacked 54 times in 2025 and is on a faster pace now, while Kansas City has not sacked anyone in three games. Something gives: either the Chargers finally get clean pockets, or a pass rush that showed up once finds a line the Week 5 report listed short of starters. In the two 2025 meetings, Kansas City sacked Herbert seven times and still lost both, so pressure alone did not decide those games.

Walker has 537 rushing yards in four games. The Chargers still stop the run.

Kenneth Walker III has 537 rushing yards through Kansas City's first four games, tied with Arian Foster in 2010 for third most through four team games since 2003, behind Jamal Lewis and Stephen Davis in 2003, and the most by a Chief in that span, ahead of Kareem Hunt's 502 in 2017. He has two games of 170 yards or more, 173 against Denver and 177 against the Raiders. Kansas City leads the league at 5.74 yards per carry, after 4.38 and 18th in 2025. The Chargers' run defense is the part of their team that has held: minus 0.102 expected points per carry, ninth, after fourth in 2025, and Denver averaged 3.66 yards a carry in Week 5. If Walker has 50 rushing yards by halftime, Kansas City is playing the game it has won four times; if the Chargers hold him under four yards a carry into the third quarter, Patrick Mahomes has to carry it against a pass defense that ranks 12th.

Why it matters. This is the strength against strength collision in a game with few of them. Kansas City's run game went from 18th in yards per carry in 2025 to first, almost entirely on Walker, and the Chargers' run defense has been a top-10 unit by expected points in both seasons. The by game rows show the Chargers can be moved, Buffalo ran for 177, but also that they held three of five opponents under four yards a carry. If Walker runs freely, the Chargers' offense, last in the league, has to keep pace; if he does not, the game sits on the shoulders of two passers who combined for one touchdown pass at Arrowhead last December.

The Chargers have not led at halftime. Kansas City wins after the break.

The Chargers have scored 33 first half points in five games and have not led at halftime once: they trailed four times and were tied 10-10 at Buffalo. Kansas City trailed at halftime twice, 20-17 against Indianapolis and 13-10 against the Raiders, and won both, and across four games it has outscored opponents 63-30 after the break. The Chargers' offense ranks 32nd in expected points per play at minus 0.207, after 25th in 2025, and Herbert has thrown exactly one touchdown pass in each of his five games along with seven interceptions, tied for most in the league. Kansas City's defense is eighth at minus 0.050 and has at least one interception in all four games. If the Chargers score a touchdown on one of their first two drives, they are ahead of the pace that has left them behind at every half; if they reach halftime in single digits again, as in four of five games, Kansas City's second halves have been worth 63 points to 30.

Why it matters. Kansas City has played from behind and still won, and it has been much better after halftime than before it. The Chargers have done the reverse: their second halves have been closer, 51 points to 66, but they start every game in a hole, and an offense that ranks last and has thrown seven interceptions is not built to climb out against a top-10 defense. A fast start is the cheapest way for the Chargers to test whether their 2025 form against this opponent, two wins, is still there.