The Chargers are now 8-5 after a close 19-17 loss to the Chiefs on Sunday Night Football.

Here are five takeaways from Week 14.

1. Bolts proud of resolve on road

The Chargers will not win the AFC West in Jim Harbaugh's first season at the helm.

But the Bolts once again showed Sunday night that they can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the NFL. And that their time might be coming soon.

Down 13-0 at halftime, it would have been easy for Harbaugh's squad to pack it in on the road at Arrowhead. Instead, they showed plenty of mettle and toughness in a last-second loss.

"This one hurts," Harbaugh said. "We'll lay down and bleed for a little while, not long. Then we'll rise and fight again."

Justin Herbert added: "It's always a tough game. For those guys to stick in there and battle, it didn't go our way at the end, but I have a lot of appreciation for those guys sticking and fighting and do everything they can for all four quarters."

On a night where the Chiefs claimed their ninth straight division crown, the Chargers couldn't put together a complete game in all three phases.

The defense was strong early but had some lapses, including in the final few minutes of regulation.

The offense sputtered in the first half but roared to life in the third quarter.

But the end result was a familiar one, a narrow loss to a team that has won the last two Super Bowls.

"Heck yeah, it's frustrating," Derwin James, Jr. said. "Losing on the last drive is frustrating and I'm tired of doing it, too, man. Honestly."

Elijah Molden added: "There's no such thing as 'almost.'"

Khalil Mack added: "It's a high level of frustration, but we got to use it. We got to keep using it and learning from it. We got another four games or so, we can't let one loss turn into two. We got to learn from this and get better for the next one."

At 8-5, the Chargers now reside in the No. 6 seed in the AFC playoff field. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Bolts have an 89 percent chance to make the playoffs.

But there's no doubt that Sunday night's loss stung in the postgame locker room, even if the Chargers once again showed their toughness on a national stage.

"Two really good teams," Harbaugh said. "Nothing but respect for the Chiefs, the way they played, their physicality, their confidence and their belief in the system and each other.

"We were trying to better that in all four of those areas," Harbaugh added. "Came up two points short of that."

2. Herbert gets banged up

Herbert missed one play late in the second quarter Sunday night.

He rolled to his right and took a hit before leaving the game with trainers.

Herbert said he "took a shot to the knee" on the play.

He later added: "Yeah, I'd have to watch the film. Maybe it was a helmet there, or an elbow. Took a shot there."

Harbaugh added: "He had a contusion. Leg contusion. As tough as they come. Warrior."

Taylor Heinicke entered the game for a third-and-20 play and scrambled for 12 yards before Herbert came back in for the Bolts next offensive series.

"You hate to see 10 go down. He's the heartbeat of this team, he brings that fire, that juice," Bradley Bozeman said. "This team runs through him so when he goes down it's definitely a shot for sure. But you have to step up and protect whoever is back there.

"We were lucky that he was able to [come back]. He's such a competitor, came back, gritted it out and did what he did," Bozeman added. " I think he played a great game, brought us back from a 13 point deficit in the second half and we were able to score 17 points in the second half."

3. Defense can't make final stop

Daiyan Henley succinctly summed up it for the Bolts defense.

"Just gotta finish the game," Henley said.

Holding a 17-16 lead with four minutes and 35 seconds left, the Chargers kicked off to the Chiefs.

But Cameron Dicker's kick was a "rare mistake," according to Harbaugh, and allowed Kansas City to start at its own 40-yard line.

The Chiefs kept the ball for the rest of the game, draining the clock before their game-winning field goal eventually bounced off the left upright and in.

"That's the situation you dream of," Mack said. "Want to get that stop, turnover and win the game."

Molden added: "I think just execution when it mattered. In that last drive, we knew it would come down to us as a defense and they executed better than we did. Obviously, a good football team, we're a good football team but they were better than us today."

The Chargers had their chances.

On third-and-10 at their own 40, the Chiefs hit a 14-yard pass to move the chains.

Later, on third-and-7 at the Chargers 20, Kansas City chose to pass the ball instead of bleed the clock. Patrick Mahomes hit Travis Kelce for nine yards as the Chiefs iced the game.

"We thought it was likely [they would throw]," Harbaugh said. "We predicted a couple of those, the roll pass early. But just executed, it wasn't a surprise or a shock."

On a night where the Chargers held the Chiefs under 300 yards of offense and sacked Mahomes three times, the defense rued the final minutes in Kansas City.

"We gotta be ready," James said. "As a defense, we want to be on the field, we want that challenge and I feel like we didn't make the plays in the third and fourth quarter to get off the field.

"I know looking at the tape, we're going to be sick to our stomach," James added.

4. WRs step up without McConkey

The Chargers were missing their best wide receiver Sunday night.

The rest of the position room rose to the challenge with Ladd McConkey (knee/shoulder) inactive in Week 14.

"We held it down," Quentin Johnston said.

Herbert added: "I thought those guys stepped up."

Joshua Palmer led the way with six catches for 78 yards on offense, with four receptions moving the sticks.

Palmer had a 38-yard catch in the first half and later had a 15-yard reception on fourth-and-2 that eventually led to the Chargers first touchdown.

Johnston, meanwhile, had five catches for 48 yards, including a 4-yard touchdown.

His first reception went for 21 yards, with 15 more tacked on due to a personal foul when Johnston got hit up high.

"As long as we can get him involved in the offense, I feel like we can move the ball pretty well," Herbert said of Johnston.

DJ Chark had one reception for nine yards, his first catch of the season.

"Quentin Johnston, just tough as nails game," Harbaugh said. "Catching the ball in traffic, contested catches, getting open. Took the big hit to the head, kept the football. Just down after down, ran good with the ball after the catch.

"Guys came to play," Harbaugh added. "Quentin Johnston came to play. Josh Palmer, DJ Chark, really the whole football team," Harbaugh added. "It was a football fight for four quarters."

5. Smartt comes up clutch

Tight end Stone Smartt also provided a boost to the passing offense.

With Will Dissly missing the second half with a shoulder injury and Hayden Hurst on Injured Reserve, it was Smartt was helped out in the final two quarters.

He finished with three catches for 54 yards — all in the second half — to finish as the Bolts second-leading receiver.

"Came in there and did what I needed to do," Smartt said. "But it doesn't mean nothing because we didn't get the team victory, man. Just tried to put us in the best position to get the win."

He later added: "We're super close in the tight end room. Our communication is on another level so that made it super easy going in there and performing."

Smartt, who played quarterback in college at Old Dominion, is now in his third season playing tight end since joining the Bolts in 2022.

"I felt he played really good," Harbaugh said. "Came up with some clutch plays, really happy for Stone. A couple contested catches, big down conversions. Some real good things to build on for Stone."