Opportunistic Chiefs keep finding ways to win

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- It's no secret how the Kansas City Chiefs are winning these days. Even Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers has noticed it.

"They stuck together and found ways," he said. "They went through awful injuries at the start of their season. They were down in Indy 24-7 and came back and won that one. They beat Minnesota at home, then went to Oakland, obviously, and shut them out -- had six turnovers."

Yes, the Chiefs are riding a modest three-game winning streak, but they're not doing it with a dominating ground game like last year. They're not winning with a flashy offense or bruise-inducing defense. They've been opportunistic, simple as that, and somehow it's worked.

"We've got the ship turned around right now. But as quick as you can win in this league, that's how quick you can lose," linebacker D.J. Johnson said. "Everything is better when you win."

The Chiefs have recovered from a miserable 0-3 start and injuries to starters Eric Berry and Jamaal Charles to even their record. With a win over San Diego tonight, Kansas City can move into a tie atop the AFC West with the Chargers and the Oakland Raiders.

"They haven't lost since we played them," Rivers said. "It's going to be a big-time game."

Who would have thought that a few weeks back?

Kansas City dropped its first two games in lopsided fashion, and went to San Diego (4-2) trying to figure out things. Some fans were already talking about tanking the rest of season so the team could draft Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck. Todd Haley was on the hot seat barely eight months after he was a trendy pick for coach of the year awards.

The Chiefs played the Chargers to the final possession in a 20-17 defeat, but it turned out to be a watershed moment for the defending division champions.

Kansas City's offense found a dink-and-dunk style that managed to move the ball just enough to score some points, despite having lost one of the league's best running backs in Charles. The defense realized it would have to force turnovers to win, and began making up for the loss of Berry in the secondary by cherry-picking interceptions.

Rivers threw two of them that day, and Raiders quarterbacks combined to throw six last week.

"Three weeks ago when we played them, they didn't even win a game," Chargers linebacker Takeo Spikes said. "This game is all about confidence, what you do from week to week. It's always different. Every situation is different. That's the beauty of it."

Spikes insists the Chargers' confidence isn't failing, either.

San Diego is coming off a 27-21 road loss to the New York Jets in which it blew an 11-point halftime lead, had two interceptions in the fourth quarter and botched a two-minute drill.

Much of the blame for the collapse has been heaped on the shoulders of Rivers, who is off to one of the worst starts in his Pro Bowl career. He was 16 of 32 for 179 yards with a touchdown and the two second-half picks against the Jets, and his passer rating is just 82.3 through six games.