Which Chargers Team Shows Up This Sunday?
By Dave Thomas
Was it that long ago that the San Diego Chargers were owners of a five-game winning streak? To many San Diego fans, that may seem like many months ago.
After dropping their season-opener 18-17 to the now 8-1 Arizona Cardinals, the Bolts reeled off five straight victories, even holding the lead in the AFC West for a time. Now, however, the Chargers (5-4) sit in third place in the division, with a pair of hot teams in front of them, respectively Denver (7-2) and Kansas City (6-3).
With seven games remaining in the season, the Chargers will look this Sunday to get back on the winning track, facing an Oakland (0-9) team that remains the NFL's only winless team.
Back To Basics
It seems that the old cliche of "one game at a time" is overused and boring, but that is exactly what the Chargers must focus on going into the latter stretch of the season.
What seemingly worked earlier this season has not been working over the last three outings, especially in blowout losses in Denver and Miami.
While San Diego has been saddled with the fact it has little or no running game since day one this season, the Bolts were able to overcome that fact in many of their wins by getting strong performances from quarterback Philip Rivers and a defense that may not have the game's biggest names, but was efficient.
That all changed in the losses at Denver and Miami.
Rivers has looked out of sync the last couple of games, what little running game the Chargers did have has been non-existent, and the defense has been battered for 72 total points in the last two outings.
With that in mind, the Oakland Raiders seem to be the perfect cure for a team that must basically not stumble or rarely stumble the rest of the way if it wants to accomplish back-to-back AFC playoff appearances (San Diego made the playoffs last season for the first time in four years) when all is said and done.
In their most recent contests (a 41-17 loss to Denver this past Sunday), the Raiders were exposed for an inexperienced quarterback, a weak running game, and a very spotty secondary.
So, can Rivers and the Chargers do the same this Sunday against their hated rivals, exploiting a once-proud franchise?
If the Chargers do, they're right back in the AFC playoff hunt.
If they don't, look for some Charger fans do be jumping off the bandwagon faster than fans of the L.A. Dodgers and Detroit Tigers did during the recent MLB playoffs.
For more Chargers news and updates, visit Chargers Central.
Dave Thomas has been covering the sports world since his first job as a sports editor for a weekly newspaper in Pennsylvania back in 1989. He has covered a Super Bowl, college bowl games, MLB, NBA and more. His work can be found on Examiner.com.