Chiefs-Chargers prediction: Who will walk off the field with a losing streak Sunday?

A year ago, the Chiefs didn’t put their post-defeat resolve into action until the season’s second month. When they did, the results were conclusive and impressive.

They followed a Week 5 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders with a resounding victory at Buffalo, a team they defeated again in the AFC Championship Game. That defeat against the Raiders was the Chiefs’ lone loss until they rested their starters and lost their regular-season finale to none other than the Chargers.

This season, the Chiefs get to test their mettle in Week 3. Coming off a crushing one-point loss at Baltimore, here come the Chargers.

The Chiefs said all the right things this past week about fixing their run defense, eliminating turnovers and stopping opponents in the red zone. But it was how they said them, through gritted teeth, that leads one to believe they’re determined to clean up the issues that got them beat in Baltimore.

“When you go from Game 1 to Game 2, you’re hoping for the jump (improvement),” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said. “That didn’t happen. So we have to find a way to seal the leak in the dam now.”

As good as quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Justin Herbert have been this season, either team could find success on the ground Sunday. Both rushing defenses have been suspect.

In the end, however, the Chiefs have more weapons, and it should be the Chargers, who lost a heartbreaker to the Cowboys last week, on a losing streak after this one.

Kickoff: Noon, Arrowhead Stadium

TV/radio: CBS (Ch. 5), WDAF (106.5 FM)

LIne: Chiefs by 6 1/2

Blair Kerkhoff’s prediction: Chiefs 33-24