The first goal of any NFL team when a new season starts is to win the division it plays in. Well, except for the Patriots, whose first goal is to not get caught doing … whatever it is they’re currently doing.
The best way to go about doing that is to win games against your division opponents. For the Chargers that has become an extremely difficult thing to do. In fact the Bolts are not just losing division games; more often than not they’re not even competitive.
Take this season for example. First Mike McCoy’s bunch fell behind the Raiders 37-6. Then they got pummeled by the Chiefs 33-3. Both of those games were at home, mind you, as was a 17-3 loss to the Broncos.
Then Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium the Chargers lost 10-3, their 4th straight loss to Kansas City, and when you look at the postgame notes on this a few extremely interesting things pop out.
The Chiefs don’t beat the Chargers four straight very often. In fact you’d have to go back to 1990-1993 to find the last time it happened. The Chargers only scored six points combined in the two losses, tying the Chiefs' franchise record for fewest points allowed to a division foe in a single season. They also held the Bolts to six points in a pair of games way back in 1973.
If we throw out the 4th quarter of that loss to Oakland, when the Raiders basically went on cruise control to just not get anybody hurt and the Bolts scored 21 points, we find the San Diego Chargers have been outscored by their division rivals 97-15 this year.
That’s not just bad, that’s embarrassing. In their last two games against the division (vs. Denver and at Kansas City) the San Diego defense has been really good, only allowing 27 total points. Usually if you give up 13.5 points a game you’re going to have a good chance to win. But the Bolts have found a way to surrender a paltry 27 points over two games and STILL be outscored by three touchdowns.
A lot of folks are asking who should take the blame on this 3-10 disaster: Injuries? The players? The coaches? The front office? Karma? The answer is very likely: All of the above. San Diego has three games left and two of them are on the road in the division (at Oakland 12/24, at Denver 1/3). It’s not only possible that the Chargers will go winless in the division, it’s quite likely.
It seems impossible to wrap your brain around but the reality is this: In three short seasons the San Diego Chargers are further away from being AFC West champions than they were when Norv Turner was the head coach, and we all remember how horrible the end of that era felt.
