KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Wide receiver Dwayne Bowe has what the Kansas City Chiefs called a sprained shoulder, putting in doubt his ability to play in Sunday’s final regular season game against the San Diego Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.

“He was a bit tender,’’ coach Andy Reid said Monday.

The Chiefs can still make the playoffs with a win over the Chargers, but they need help. the combination of required results make the postseason a long shot for the Chiefs. But there’s a chance, so it’s not a good thing if their leading wide receiver can’t play in a game they would need to win to get into the playoffs.

The Chiefs aren’t deep at wide receiver, so the loss of Bowe would leave the Chiefs with a collection of players that includes rookies Albert Wilson and De'Anthony Thomas, Jason Avant, Junior Hemingway, Frankie Hammond Jr. and Donnie Avery, who was a healthy scratch Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Reid was optimistic that Bowe would be available against the Chargers. Bowe missed all of the last practice week because of flu symptoms, but he played anyway on Sunday in Pittsburgh and caught six passes for 57 yards.

So even if Bowe can’t practice this week, he should play against the Chargers if he’s physically able.

“Knowing Dwayne, he doesn’t miss much,’’ Reid said. “I think he’ll be OK once it’s all said and done here. We’ve got a little different schedule because of Christmas and we’ll practice tomorrow. It will be a stretch for him to practice to be able to do that tomorrow but as the week goes on, he’ll be there.’’

The emergence of Wilson has been one of the few positives as the Chiefs have lost four of their last five games. The undrafted rookie has moved into the starting lineup and has 12 receptions for 209 yards in the last three games.

“You see him after the catch and he was a good punt returner and kick returner in college and you see that,’’ Reid said. “You see his ability to kind of work in space and kind of set up his moves.’’