Chargers Flying Under the Radar

Sofi Stadium - 1001 Stadium Dr, Inglewood, California

Why is nobody talking about the Los Angeles Chargers?

The only time they made headlines was when Jim Harbaugh was signed as the new head coach. The Chargers defense leads the NFL in points allowed. It took them eight weeks to allow a total of one hundred points. They currently have a 5-3 record, which is second in the AFC West division only behind the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs.

Quarterback Justin Herbert has completed 65% of his passes with a 101.6 quarterback rating, 1,725 passing yards, 10 touchdowns, and only 1 interception. 

Although Herbert's numbers look good, the offense is still questionable. The Charger's offense ranks 22nd in total yards, 21st in passing yards, 20th in rushing yards, 24th in points, and 11th in third-down percentage. Their rushing leader, J.K. Dobbins, only had two games in which he rushed over 100 yards and four games he rushed below 80 yards. The team's leader receiver, Ladd McConkey, leads the team in receptions (35), yards (440), and tied in touchdowns with Quentin Johnston (4). McConkey only had one game which had over 100 receiving yards (October 27th against New Orleans), the same with Quentin Johnston (November 3rd against Cleveland).

Even though there are some questions on offense for Los Angeles, their defense has been playing well. The Chargers defense ranks 8th in total yards, 11th in passing yards, 8th in rushing yards, 1st in points, and 5th in third-down percentage. They only allowed their opponents to score over 20 points once, and that was September 22nd against the Justin Fields led Pittsburgh Steelers. Besides Pittsburgh, these are points that they allowed their opponents to score in the past eight games: Las Vegas (10), Carolina (3), Kansas City (17), Denver (16), Arizona (17), New Orleans (8), and Cleveland (10).

With that in mind, the Chargers had a favorable schedule ahead. This week, they play at home against Tennessee. Then, they have home games against Cincinnati and Baltimore, road games to Atlanta and Kansas City, their last two home games against Tampa Bay and Denver, and they play their last games on the road to New England and Las Vegas.

Obviously, they are a threat to make the playoffs, and considering that they only played four teams with winning records in which they came out 1-3 against those four teams, we need to see more from the Chargers playing against better competition. After they play against the Bengals and Ravens in back-to-back weeks, we will see how much of a threat this teams is overall and how far, if they can, go into the playoffs.