EL SEGUNDO — There’s little doubt as to what has sparked the Chargers during their three-game winning streak after their much-needed bye in Week 12. Their defense has risen to the occasion to start their six-game sprint to the finish line of the regular season, tormenting three quarterbacks in a row.
In Week 13, the Chargers harassed Geno Smith of the Las Vegas Raiders while he completed 18 of 23 passes for 165 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, sacking him five times in a 31-14 victory. Smith got away easy, playing a more effective game than either of the next two.
In Week 14, the Chargers intercepted Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles five times and sacked him once while badgering him into 21-for-40 passing for 240 yards and a fumble. The Chargers’ play in their 22-19 overtime victory over the Super Bowl champions was a warmup for what came next.
In Week 15, the Chargers made Kansas City star Patrick Mahomes appear uncharacteristically uncomfortable, intercepting him once and sacking him five times. Mahomes completed 16 of 28 for 189 yards before departing with a torn ACL in the final two minutes of the Chargers’ 16-13 victory.
So, who’s the Chargers’ next victim?
Or, rather, who is the next challenging quarterback they’ll face?
That would be Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, the NFL’s leading passer with 3,931 yards entering Week 16. The next great test for the Chargers’ defense might be the toughest of the four they will have faced in the four games since regrouping during their bye week.
“I think it’s arguably the best offense we have played and they present a lot of challenges,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said Wednesday. “They have a really good front, a really good quarterback, good receivers. Their running game would be a challenge to stop, as well.”
Harbaugh described Prescott as “elite.”
“He’s just really good at everything,” Harbaugh said. “There’s an awareness that he has. It’s, like, a vision, a sense, a feel. He’s slippery, but a playmaker and with all the arm talent that you would ever want. There seems to be a sixth sense with him, just his feel for the game and the way he sees the field, the way he sees football, it stands out.”
DICKER HONORED
Cameron Dicker was named the AFC’s Special Teams Player of the Week after kicking three field goals in the Chargers’ 16-13 victory over the Chiefs, the second time he has been honored by the NFL this season and the fifth time in his four-season tenure with the team.
Dicker, who began his NFL career with a one-game stint with the Eagles, is the league’s most accurate kicker with 100 or more attempts. By going 3 for 3 against the Chiefs, including two from 49 yards, Dicker improved to 34 for 36 in 14 games this season and 125 for 133 overall (94%).
His only misses this season were on a 49-yard attempt that sailed wide left during the Chargers’ 37-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Oct. 23 and on a 55-yard try that had plenty of distance but struck the left upright in a 25-10 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Nov. 9.
TEMPERATURE CHECK
The game-time temperature of 15 degrees in Kansas City on Sunday was tied for the third-lowest in Chargers history, matching the 15-degree temperature for their Nov. 19, 1978 game against the Minnesota Vikings at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota, now the site of the Mall of America.
The coldest Chargers game on record was the “Freezer Bowl,” in Cincinnati on Jan. 10, 1982, when the air temperature was minus-9 with a minus-59 wind chill for the AFC title game. The second-coldest was a balmy 9 degrees by comparison on Dec. 10, 1972 at the original Mile High Stadium in Denver.