Monday, December 10, 2018 | Hoag Performance Center | Costa Mesa, Calif.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS HEAD COACH ANTHONY LYNN

Opening Statement:

"Operating on a short week. Our focus has clearly shifted to Kansas City. We put Cincinnati to bed last night, but you can't forget about that game. There were a lot of good teaching points in that game that we'll bring up today when the players get in, but we're going to move on to Kansas City pretty quickly. I like the plan we had last year on Thursday. I thought it worked really well. I liked the execution that we had Thursday when we went to Dallas and those results worked just fine, so we're going to stick to that plan. Certainly, one of the biggest things about this week is recovery, getting guys to recover and play fast and physical and how you handle that and we always struggle with doing too much and not doing enough. Same thing with X's and O's. Sometimes you can do too much there. That's kind of what we're doing right now. We're working to get that balance as best we can and go out and play a football game. Any questions?"

On reaching 10 wins on the season:

"I'll be honest for you, [it does] not [mean much] really, because ten wins is not the magic number. We're not in the playoffs yet. If we get this organization back into the playoffs competing for a World Championship, that would be something."

On QB Philip Rivers' rushing attempt:

"We ran a play to the backside end and he pulled it."

On if the play was designed:

"Yeah."

On his thought process in calling the play:

"Nobody in that setting would believe he's going to keep the football."

On if he would call the play again:

"It just depends. If they are going to play it aggressively from the backside like that, then, you know, we may take that chance again."

On if he was concerned with Rivers running in the open field:

"I think he's smart enough to get down, not take a hit."

On if Rivers ran faster in practice:

"About the same. About the same."

On River staying in bounds to keep the clock running:

"Oh, absolutely, and I thought he did a good job of that. He could have — very easily — ran out of bounds, but he got down just in time, kept the clock ticking and made a big difference."

On RB Austin Ekeler:

"You know, he's a tough kid. He's been working through these things for a while, and if he can play, he'll play — but right now, I really don't know."

On RB Melvin Gordon III:

"He's getting better, I can tell you that. He's getting a lot better. We probably won't have a full-speed practice this week, so he's going to do some things on the side. We'll see how he goes."

On not having a full-speed practice:

"It's a little bit of a concern to be honest with you, but he can make those same cuts that he's going to make in practice on the side. We'll just evaluate that and see how he looks."

On if playing Kansas City makes it easier to game-plan on the short week:

"We are familiar with this group, but they do so many things. It's never easy going up against Kansas City. We have a lot to prepare for, and like I said, it's going to be more of a mental week. So we have to find ways to get that done."

On how he has improved in his second year as a head coach:

"I answered that question earlier [in the season] — we don't have time, okay. There's a whole lot of things that I've learned from my first year, but just more comfortable in my skin, understanding my personnel and coaching staff. A lot of continuity this year. A lot of guys came back, staff and players, not moving, everything. It's night and day this year from last year in my opinion."

On if Kansas City is similar enough to previous times that game film is useful preparation:

"Yeah, we go back, go back to September. You can go back last year, 2017, when we lost to those guys twice. Same things, they are just really good at executing."

On how the Chiefs are different without RB Kareem Hunt:

"He's leading rusher in the National Football League last year. He's a good football player and they have other good football players and they have never depended on one guy. They have a plethora of weapons. We still have plenty to prepare for."

On the depth at running back:

"They are going to have to [be able to step up], you know, because this is a game that we need. No matter who we put on the field, we expect them to execute and be ready to play."

On teaching points from the win against Cincinnati:

"What was the biggest teaching points of last night's game? I mean, there are a lot of good teaching points coming out of that game. You know, there was some things, just some execution issues. Going three-and-out, how to sustain drives and defensively, things they did in stopping the run. We knew that it was going to be hard because their quarterback is very mobile and he can run. Any time the defense plays 11-on-11, you have to play very disciplined football. We didn't do that all the time. We made the stops when we needed to, that was most important. We played good, complementary football last night — all three phases. I thought the special teams really stepped up last night. We got the win. That was a dangerous game. I know some of you guys looked at me like, you know, half the team is hurt. Well, that team was playing for playoffs last night. They lose that game, they are out of the playoffs and they win, they have a chance. For us, getting ready for the Cincinnati game, I thought that was a little dangerous. I was proud we went in and executed and won the game."

On having DE Joey Bosa in this game against the Chiefs:

"[He helps the] pass rush, but also in the run defense. Joey, he's our big end. He can set the edge, get off the blocks and make plays. The pass rush is going to be critical. We've got to get to this young man because he can hurt you."

On how Bosa has played since his return:

"I think he's gotten better every week. He didn't come back and pick up where he left off, but you can see him getting better."

On CB Desmond King II's kickoff return near the end of the first half:

"We wanted him to bring it down at the end of the half because if we don't get good field position — we wanted to see if we can break one and I thought he got it out for us to complete a couple passes and end up kicking it."

On the rule to give protection to quarterbacks when the give themselves up regardless of if they go feet-first:

"We're trying to protect our quarterbacks. So when they give themselves up like that —"

On if Bengals QB Jeff Driskel gave himself up on the play:

"Yeah, definitely. Absolutely from my perspective."

On the failed challenge:

"We thought he caught the ball. Mike was very confident he caught the ball, but I guess it wasn't enough to overturn it."

On the game on Thursday:

"We can't do anything about the last three games we lost to the Chiefs, but we can do something about this one, though."