Chiefs 19, Chargers 7: Justin Houston recorded four sacks and forced a fumble as host Kansas City held down San Diego and both teams missed out on a playoff spot.

Cairo Santos kicked four field goals, Kurt Coleman intercepted two passes and Travis Kelce scored a touchdown for the Chiefs (9-7), who compiled seven sacks and saw Houston raise his season total to 22, tied for second-most in NFL history. Chase Daniel made his second career start in place of Alex Smith (lacerated spleen) and was 16-of-27 for 157 yards.

Philip Rivers passed for 291 yards and two interceptions while playing with a back injury for the Chargers (9-7). San Diego only needed to win the game to make the playoffs but was stymied by Kansas City, and the Chiefs were eliminated when the Baltimore Ravens defeated the Cleveland Browns.

Houston’s third sack caused Rivers to fumble and it was recovered by Joe Mays to set up Santos for a 31-yard field goal and give the Chiefs a 19-7 lead with 8:24 left in the third quarter. San Diego reached the 3-yard line with less than nine minutes to play but came up empty after four incomplete passes and later reached the Kansas City 20 before Donald Brown was stuffed for no gain on fourth down with 3:33 remaining.

Santos kicked a 43-yard field goal in the first quarter and the Chiefs made it 10-0 in the second when Dwayne Bowe fumbled just before the goal line and Kelce recovered in the end zone. San Diego got on the board on Branden Oliver’s 1-yard run with 10:50 left in the first half before Santos tacked on field goals of 21 and 27 yards to give Kansas City a 16-7 halftime lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Houston broke the franchise single-season record for sacks held by Hall of Famer Derrick Thomas (20 in 1990) and finished a half-sack behind the NFL record held by Michael Strahan (2001). … Chargers TE Antonio Gates had 67 yards to become the fourth tight end in NFL history to top 10,000 receiving yards. He has 10,014. … Kansas City RB Jamaal Charles had 54 yards to finish with 1,033 for his fifth career 1,000-yard season.