[Marcellus]

Mike Sando covered this in his column today.

Anthony Lynn’s fourth-down decision wasn’t easy. My first reaction was, gotta go for it, because if Patrick Mahomes gets the ball back for Kansas City, game over. But it wasn’t that simple. Lynn, now 27-23 as the Chargers’ head coach, got no help from win-probability models when his team faced fourth-and-1 from the minus-34-yard-line early in overtime. ESPN’s model, which takes into account relative team strengths without accounting specifically for Patrick Mahomes’ capabilities as the Chiefs’ quarterback, saw no advantage to punting or going for it. There were some special considerations for Lynn. Herbert had practiced as the backup all week, so the menu of plays Lynn felt great about could have been reduced. Further, the Chargers had gone for it twice on fourth down earlier in the game, including on another fourth-and-1. Teams tend to not carry into games an unlimited number of plays for specialized situations. Lynn truly did face a difficult decision. Going for it would have been an easier call if the line of scrimmage were the 45 instead of the 34, where the Chiefs would have been in field-goal range instantly if the Chargers failed to convert.