*The Kansas City Chiefs are your AFC West champions after a win over the San Diego Chargers after a 37-27 win on Sunday. Here's what we learned: *
- The Chiefs' formula is so similar every week. They win the turnover battle, finishing up 2-1 Sunday. They get big plays in the secondary, with beautiful interceptions from Marcus Peters and Daniel Sorensen. They get a dose of magic from Tyreek Hill, who scored a touchdown over 60 yards for the fourth straight game, the first player to do so since the Chiefs' Dante Hall in 2003. (This time it came on a 95-yard punt return.) His pure speed and ability to make pros look silly is unlike anything I've ever seen.
Kansas City has ridden this formula all the way to 12-4 and the AFC West title, thanks to Oakland's loss in Denver on Sunday. The Chiefs are the No. 2 in the AFC.
- The Chiefs' formula has been upgraded lately because of their increasingly explosive offense. They scored on six of their first seven possessions, with the one Chargers stop coming on an interception that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Andy Reid is on a playcalling roll, with Alex Smith finding receivers wide open on play after play. They were third among all NFL teams over the last four games in yards-per-play, and that should only go up after this game. This dominance came despite missing starting running back Spencer Ware.
- It was a strange atmosphere at Qualcomm Stadium for what could be the team's final game in San Diego. Most of the fans I spoke with said they left last year's final home win in tears but they were more angry and annoyed this season.
"We supported this team when we didn't have much to support most years and now they might leave us? That's unacceptable," Sally Morgan, a longtime season ticket holder said.
- Chiefs star tight end Travis Kelce was on the sideline for the first drive of the game. He returned for the second drive, which started in the second quarter. We'll see if Reid has an update on Kelce after the game.
- Philip Rivers threw two interceptions, to boost his season total to 21. That's a career high. He's turned the second half fade into an annual occurrence.
