The Kansas City Chiefs sit alone at the top in the AFC West with a huge opportunity to extend their lead on Thursday against the Chargers. A win in the primetime matchup at SoFi Stadium would give them their 10th win of the season, putting them two games up in the division with the potential of a tiebreaking advantage against Los Angeles, who are currently in second place in the division.
Inspiring defensive performances have put the Chiefs in a position to control their own destiny in recent weeks, and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo has been at the center of the unit’s resurgent play with some excellent game plans. His defense has allowed just nine points in three consecutive games now. He told reporters on Monday that he doesn’t plan on changing much after the team’s most recent win against the Raiders.
“I don’t venture down that road at all because from a play-caller standpoint, I’ve tried it before, and it gets confusing,” Spagnuolo explained. “You get jersey numbers mixed up, so I didn’t do anything with it, but the rest of the staff was well into it Saturday morning, maybe even some of the guys Friday afternoon. They were just putting together things for me. Listen, Dave [Merritt], Brendan [Daly], Matt [House], all of our assistants, they pretty much know what we’re looking for and what I tend to lean towards. So, they’ve kind of gotten me ahead.”
When asked if his experience in the league is a benefit to his ability to get players equally prepared on a quick turnaround, Spagnuolo described it as a unique challenge, one that requires an interesting change of perspective.
“I’m not so sure you can ever be (prepared) because you can never get your eyes on them as much on film because real quickly here we have to feed something to the players,” He said. “One of the things I talked with the staff about this morning is, and I’ll talk to the players about this afternoon, tomorrow, which is Tuesday and Wednesday which is like a Saturday, we have to be ready to maybe tweak, change, add.
“We wouldn’t normally do that during a normal week. We wouldn’t try to add things on a normal Friday or Saturday, but we have to treat this like we’re in the game and at halftime, we make an adjustment. I think the guys have to have that mindset when the week is really short.”
Whether the shorter preparation window will prove to be a defining factor in the Week 15 matchup, Kansas City has the necessary leadership to play winning football despite all odds. If their showing against Las Vegas on Sunday was any indication, the Chargers are in for a whale of an effort from Spagnuolo’s squad, which has been among the league’s best on the Chiefs’ six-game win streak.