Cairo Santos scored a 45-yard field goal in the dying seconds of the game to hand the Kansas City Chiefs a 23-20 victory over the San Diego Chargers.
The Chargers took the lead in the game towards the end of the first quarter after both sides had failed to score on their first possessions. Philip Rivers moved his team to the goal line before faking a handoff to Branden Oliver and hitting tight end John Phillips in the endzone.
Kansas City hit straight back with a good drive which culminated in Jamaal Charles finding the endzone with an incredible run, as he ran to the right and managed to find a crease to cut back and cross the goal line for the 16-yard score.
The Chiefs took the lead when the Chargers committed a big roughing the passer penalty to allow the visitors into the redzone. However, the home side's defense stepped up and held Andy Reid's men to a field goal from the boot of Santos.
The home side drove downfield just before the break and managed to retake the lead when Rivers evaded the rush to fire deep in the endzone, and Antonio Gates made the catch for the 27-yard touchdown.
In the second half, the Chiefs reduced the deficit to one point when Alex Smith drove his side the length of the field, but were forced to settle for a 40-yard field goal from Santos.
Reid's side kept pushing at the Chargers and eventually took the lead as Smith did well to evade the rush and fire underneath to Anthony Sherman. The full-back powered through several tackles before crashing into the endzone for an 11-yard touchdown.
San Diego struggled to protect Rivers in the second half as they failed to get anything going on offense until the fourth quarter, but were kept out of the endzone, and were forced to settle for a field goal from Nick Novak.
Novak saved his side once more to tie the game with two minutes remaining as he nailed a 47-yarder through the posts. However, Smith led a drive late in the game, which set up Santos to fire over the game-winning field goal.
Simon Sinclair
