Justin Herbert tabled persistent criticisms by lifting the Chargers to a win over the Chiefs in Brazil.
Patrick Mahomes did more than enough to spark the Chiefs, but Kansas City squandered the QB’s effort.
Quentin Johnston also came up big for the Bolts with two touchdowns, including one that helped put the game away.
It was only fitting that the NFL’s first international game of the 2025 season at times felt like it was being conveyed in a foreign language.
From well before kickoff, the showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers in São Paulo had a distinct flair. The setting itself was unique, with the NFL returning to South America – and its ultra-rare Friday night window – after last year’s foray into new territory. But the league also zagged from past precedent in partnering with YouTube for an exclusive, free stream of the game, marking the latest shift in an ever-moving broadcast landscape. Meanwhile, the matchup itself – featuring two divisional rivals and playoff teams from 2024 – wasn’t short on surprising wrinkles, including the Chiefs’ record 17-game win streak in one-score contests coming to an end with the Chargers’ 27-21 victory.
But who were the biggest winners and losers on the night overall? Here’s our breakdown:
WINNERS
Justin Herbert
Kudos to the Chargers gunslinger for quickly extinguishing one of the more inane offseason discourses with the repeated questioning of whether he can deliver in key spots. Yes, his (limited) playoff track record is subpar. But Herbert is 27, and games like this serve as a reminder of just how vital he is to the Chargers’ hopes of competing with the best. The sixth-year signal-caller finished with 318 passing yards and three touchdowns, and he cooked Kansas City’s defense from the very beginning with a slew of play-action shots and throws on the move. And when Patrick Mahomes threatened to mount yet another comeback, Herbert answered by completing all eight of his passes on the penultimate drive for 73 yards and a score to nearly wrap things up (his 19-yard scramble on third-and-14 late in the fourth officially sealed it). The postseason talk is sure to resurface later, but Herbert deserves his moment in the sun after this one.
Jim Harbaugh
Who’s got it better than him on Week 1? In NFL history, literally no one. The Chargers coach is now 6-0 in openers, tying him for the most wins of any coach without a loss. His Bolts appeared to be the far more composed and in command team, and the offense deftly navigated the season-long loss of standout left tackle Rashawn Slater. Long way to go to knock the Chiefs from their AFC West perch, but it’s always nice to get a win at ‘home’ – though maybe the sea of red helped recreate the SoFi Stadium experience.
Quentin Johnston
After Los Angeles selected Tre Harris in the second round and KeAndre Lambert-Smith in the fifth round in April and brought back Keenan Allen in August, Johnston seemed to be fading into the background of the receiving corps. In the season opener, however, he quickly reasserted his relevance. Johnston helped provide an early spark with a 33-yard catch-and-run on the opening drive, which he capped with a 5-yard touchdown snag. He bookended the night by breaking free for a 23-yard scoring connection with Herbert in the fourth quarter that helped put the game out of reach. Beyond just his stats, it spoke volumes that he and Allen remained fixtures in the lineup alongside Ladd McConkey. For a player who has struggled to establish a semblance of consistency through his first two seasons, his usage – and emergence at critical junctures – served as another important vote of confidence.
NFL’s international showcase
In the league’s inaugural game in São Paulo and the Southern Hemisphere last year, the Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers were treated to a late-summer Slip-N-Slide with the field turf at Corinthians Arena, which is primarily a soccer stadium. Credit to the league for making a concerted effort to upgrade the surface by renewing the synthetic fibers this summer. In more ways than one, the groundwork has been laid for a successful expansion to Rio de Janeiro, which CBS Sports reported could be ahead in 2026.
YouTube
The unrelenting onslaught of influencer types was undoubtedly overkill, especially for anyone over 35. Rich Eisen also had a few hiccups, from misidentifying Tyler Conklin as Will Dissly to punctuating the Chiefs’ exhilarating emergency field goal before halftime by incorrectly stating the ensuing deficit. No matter how distasteful the whole display might have been to some, however, YouTube didn’t appear to have any major setbacks in its overall streaming experience. Pulling off the broadcast without stepping on any of the many land mines is unquestionably a victory as the league continues to mull changes in how viewers can and should consume games.
LOSERS
Patrick Mahomes
This is by no means intended as a slight to the Chiefs quarterback. Rather, Mahomes’ inclusion reflects how quickly even one of the league’s greatest players can become a victim of circumstance. After spending much of the offseason touting his belief in the re-emergence of Kansas City’s downfield passing attack, the signal-caller found himself without his top two wideouts in Rashee Rice – who is serving a six-game suspension – and Xavier Worthy, who was lost for the night with a shoulder injury sustained in a first-quarter collision with Travis Kelce.
At that point, the offensive regression appeared imminent. In the early going, Mahomes kept plugging away, missing two downfield deep shots to speedster Tyquan Thornton. But he eventually had to recalibrate, spraying the short area in the first half with a 2.15 second time to throw in the first half, according to Next Gen Stats, which would have been the lowest single-game total of his career. When the passer began ripping off long scrambles and lowering his shoulder into defenders, it was clear that he had fully activated the hero mode that has become all too commonplace. And he elevated things to another level in the second half, single-handedly extending and creating plays that otherwise seemed dead on arrival.
The three-time Super Bowl MVP wasn’t without fault, and he ultimately bears responsibility for an attack that went 5-of-14 on third down. But between this and last season’s slog that culminated in the Super Bowl unraveling, we might be witnessing Mahomes bumping his head against the ceiling of this go-it-alone dynamic. If Worthy returns in short order, maybe Kansas City can shake this all off. But the upcoming schedule – which includes visits from the Eagles, Baltimore Ravens and Detroit Lions in the next five weeks – doesn’t provide much margin for error.
Travis Kelce
To be fair, there might have been no better offseason winner than the 10-time Pro Bowl tight end, who got engaged to Taylor Swift a little more than a week before his 13th pro season began. But this shouldn’t be a satisfying output for Kelce in his team’s time of need. A 37-yard touchdown connection helped ignite a comeback bid that was eventually stamped out, but Kelce otherwise only had one catch for 10 yards on the night. On a second-and-goal late in the fourth, he and Mahomes couldn’t get on the same page on a look that could have led to a touchdown, leaving the Chiefs to settle for a field goal. There’s no cause for panic, but Kelce still has a long way to go to prove that the talk of his slimmed-down physique amounts to anything more than a summer trope.
Jawaan Taylor
The Chiefs’ right tackle has long drawn scrutiny for a technique that charitably could be described as overeager. Taylor once again found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons on Friday, but there was little debate as to the legality of his actions, which included two holding calls and two false starts. The flags appeared to take a toll on Kelce, who butted helmets with Taylor after one infraction in the third quarter. With free agent signing Jaylon Moore also in the mix at right tackle, Taylor might feel the heat if he doesn’t iron things out in short order.
Chiefs’ run game
Many fans’ last impression of the Chargers was their wild-card ouster, in which the Houston Texans racked up 168 rushing yards en route to a 32-12 win. With perpetually underrated run-stuffing defensive tackle Poona Ford departing for the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, the Chargers entered this season on particularly shaky ground up front. Yet Kansas City’s running backs netted just 41 yards on 10 carries, with Mahomes (57 yards) surpassing them on six rushes. Andy Reid largely waved off the matter in his postgame remarks, but this can’t stand for an entire season.
Chargers rookies
Los Angeles was widely projected to see an immediate impact from its top picks, but maybe some patience is required. Running back Omarion Hampton didn’t find many openings in rushing for 48 yards on 15 carries. His night, however, was likely defined by a blunder with less than a minute before halftime, when his move to run out of bounds on a third-down carry opened the door for Mahomes to get Harrison Butker in position for a 59-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 7 points. That decision drew the ire of Harbaugh, but the bell-cow back received some counseling from ballcarrier-turned-shutterbug Marshawn Lynch. Meanwhile, the youth movement in the receiving corps is on hold, with Harris notching just one catch and Lambert-Smith blanked.
