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In 2023, the Los Angeles Chargers were arguably the most disappointing team in the NFL. L.A. came into the season considered one of the most talented teams in the NFL, but didn’t play anything like that.
The Chargers lost their first two games in classic Chargers fashion, falling to 0-2 by dropping a pair of one-score games. Just when they got back to .500 by their bye week, they returned and dropped a pair of games to the Cowboys and Chiefs to fall to 2-4. When they again rallied back to .500, the Chargers proceeded to go 1-8 down the stretch, with an embarrassing 63-21 defeat at the hands of the also-terrible Las Vegas Raiders proving too much to handle and resulting in a series of house-cleaning firings.
Fast forward almost exactly a year from that blowout loss, and the Chargers are one of the most pleasant surprises in the NFL to date. They got off to a 2-0 start this year, but managed to fall back to .500 by their bye week. This time, though, they’ve responded by sprinting out to a 6-2 record after that bye, and they sit at 8-4 heading into a massive showdown with the Chiefs this Sunday night.
They’re currently the No. 5 seed in the AFC. The SportsLine projections give them a 98.5% chance of making the playoffs. They even have the Chargers with a 5.4% chance to win the AFC and a 2.3% chance to win the Super Bowl.
That would’ve been unthinkable at the start of this season — especially after the new John Harbaugh/Joe Hortiz regime spent the winter completely dismantling the roster and starting over. Alas, here they are. If they can win even two of their last five games, they should get into the postseason. With games remaining against the Patriots and Raiders in the final two weeks of the season, that would seem to be pretty simple. And they have winnable games against Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Denver on the slate before getting there.
Now that they’re in this position,…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/driving-force-behind-chargers-dramatic-turnaround-and-likely-playoff-berth-in-jim-harbaughs-first-season/
Author : Jared Dubin
Publish date : 2024-12-06 14:55:00
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