As always, it wasn’t a blast.

But the Kansas City Chiefs improved to 4-0 with a 17-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. The Chargers opened the game with a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, helped by a Patrick Mahomes interception. But Kansas City scored the final 17 points of the game and overcame another season-related injury to wide receiver Rashee Rice on offense.

Another close win for Kansas City

The win extends Kansas City’s winning streak to 10 games, dating back to last season’s playoffs and regular season. It was the ninth win in the series, which Kansas City secured by a single possession. Only Kansas City’s 26-7 win over the Miami Dolphins in the wild card round was more than eight points.

Rice suffered a knee injury in the first quarter in another setback against an offense that had already lost running back Isiah Pacheco to a broken fibula. On Sunday, tight end Travis Kelce emerged as Kansas City’s top receiving option after a cold start to the season.

Kareem Hunt, who returned to the Chiefs after Pacheco’s injury, took over Kansas City’s leadership in his first game with the team since being fired in 2018 after a video surfaced of him assaulting a woman at a Cleveland hotel .

The Chiefs’ difficult start includes turnovers and injuries

The game started off iffy for the Chiefs. Running back Cameron Steele fumbled the ball on Kansas City’s first possession. The Chargers turned the turnover on their first possession into a 74-yard touchdown drive to take a 7-0 lead.

Then came a play that had the potential to send the game into a spiral for the Chiefs. It resulted in an injury to Rice. Mahomes threw an interception to Chargers cornerback Kristian Fulton on the first play of Kansas City’s next possession. Rice located Fulton on the interception return and hit the ball from behind. He injured his right knee when Mahomes jumped in front of Fulton to make a tackle.

Rice left the game on a stretcher with a knee injury that head coach Andy Reid described as “not good” at halftime. Further details about the injury were not immediately clear. The Chargers retained possession after Fulton’s fumble and converted the loss into a field goal for a 10-0 lead.

But the Chiefs didn’t back down. Kansas City’s defense kept Los Angeles away from the score the rest of the game. The Chiefs’ offense responded with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes to rookie Xavier Worthy and a subsequent field goal in the third quarter to tie the game.

Then Mahomes led a 60-yard drive in the fourth quarter that ended with a Samaje Perine touchdown run with 6:05 left to secure the final lead of 17-10.

Rice’s injury forced Mahomes to look elsewhere than his favorite receiver, who entered Sunday’s game with 24 catches for 288 yards and two touchdowns. No other Chiefs player had more than eight catches or 69 receiving yards in Kansas City’s first three games combined.

Nine-time Pro Bowl tight end Travis Kelce, who turns 35 next week, had become a secondary option behind Rice but turned in his best game of the season in his absence. He led Kansas City with seven catches and 89 yards on Sunday, surpassing his total of 69 yards in Kansas City’s last three games. Worthy added three catches for 73 yards, including his 54-yard score.

Steele found the bench after his fumble on the opening drive, clearing the way for Hunt to take the backfield on his recovery. Hunt led Kansas City with 14 carries for 69 yards. Steele scored just two carries for six yards, while Perine, as Kansas City’s second option on the ground, added 14 yards on five carries.

Mahomes finished the day completing 19 of 29 passes for 245 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Kansas City’s defense, meanwhile, shut out the Chargers after the first quarter. Los Angels quarterback Justin Herbert finished the day completing 16 of 27 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. He was fired twice and constantly put under pressure. The Chargers managed just 224 total yards of offense.

It wasn’t exactly the classic victory you’d expect from the two-time defending Super Bowl champions. Still, it was a victory for the Chiefs that gave them a 4-0 start and a two-game lead in the AFC West, where the Raiders, Chargers and Broncos are all stuck in a 2-2 tie.