The Los Angeles Chargers might not be playoff-bound just yet, but they delivered a seismic jolt to the AFC West in Week 15 - and effectively slammed the door shut on the Kansas City Chiefs’ postseason hopes. With a gritty 16-13 win, the Chargers not only handed the Chiefs their walking papers for the winter, but also pulled off something no team in the division has done in over a decade: a season sweep of Kansas City.
That’s right - 2-0 over the Chiefs in 2025. And that stat carries weight.
According to the data, the last time any AFC West team managed to sweep Kansas City in the regular season was way back in 2014. That’s a run of dominance that spans the bulk of Andy Reid’s tenure in Kansas City and the entirety of Patrick Mahomes’ NFL career.
Think about that. Since Mahomes entered the league as a first-round pick in 2017, no division rival had managed to take both games in a season against the Chiefs. Until now.
The last team to do it? The Denver Broncos, led by none other than Peyton Manning.
That 2014 Broncos squad finished 12-4, won the AFC West, and ultimately fell short in the playoffs. But they had the Chiefs’ number that year - something no one else could claim until this Chargers squad stepped up.
For Los Angeles, this marks their first season sweep of the Chiefs since 2013. That year, they edged out Kansas City in a pair of tight, three-point wins. Fast-forward to 2025, and the Chargers finally broke a long dry spell in the rivalry - they hadn’t even beaten the Chiefs once since the 2021 season before this year’s Week 1 victory.
This win doesn’t just mark a turning point in the series - it might also represent a broader shift in the AFC West. The Chiefs, after years of ruling the conference and stacking up Super Bowl appearances (three straight, in fact), are officially out of the playoff picture. It’s the first time they’ve missed the postseason since 2014.
And now, the focus in Kansas City shifts from playoff scenarios to health concerns. Patrick Mahomes went down with a knee injury on the team’s final drive, a gut-punch ending to an already frustrating night. He’s set for an MRI in the coming days, but with three games left in a season that’s already lost, it’s hard to imagine the Chiefs risking their franchise cornerstone any further.
So while the Chargers are still chasing the division-leading Denver Broncos, they’ve already made a loud statement - and in doing so, they’ve ended one of the most dominant runs we’ve seen in recent NFL memory. The Chiefs are out. The AFC West just got a whole lot more interesting.