NFL Schedule Preview: San Diego Chargers
By Chris Smith
It’s 61 days until the new NFL season begins but for a football mad guy like me that’s just too long so I’ve taken it upon myself to go over each NFL schedule and try and predict for all of you what may happen once the season rolls around.
Today we begin our look at the AFC West with the San Diego Chargers who went 8-8 in 2011. Here’s how I think their season will go:
- Week 1 at Oakland Raiders – Loss
- Week 2 vs Tennessee Titans – Loss
- Week 3 vs Atlanta Falcons – Win
- Week 4 at Kansas City Chiefs – Loss
- Week 5 at New Orleans Saints – Loss
- Week 6 vs Denver Broncos – Loss
- Week 7 BYE
- Week 8 at Cleveland Browns – Win
- Week 9 vs Kansas City Chiefs – Loss
- Week 10 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Win
- Week 11 at Denver Broncos – Loss
- Week 12 vs Baltimore Ravens – Win
- Week 13 vs Cincinnati Bengals – Win
- Week 14 at Pittsburgh Steelers – Loss
- Week 15 vs Carolina Panthers – Win
- Week 16 at New York Jets – Loss
- Week 17 vs Oakland Raiders – Win
Overall Record for the San Diego Chargers in 2012: 7-9
For many years the San Diego Chargers have been a team who has looked good due to playing in the relatively weak AFC West. All of a sudden the AFC West has caught up and they are no longer the powerhouse team of this division which shows in my predictions with the Chargers losing five of the six intra-divisional matchups with the week 17 game against Oakland being their solitary victory in the division.
When it comes down to it, this is still a fairly mediocre schedule. There isn’t really a “tough” stretch in the whole season except for the three games in a row against the AFC North. The real issue for the Chargers is that this team just isn’t that good. Philip Rivers has shown he’s human, the offensive line has gone from bad to worse and the pass rush just isn’t there. When I look at this schedule I see three things – an early bye week, six games against an AFC West that is now much tougher and a massive number of matchups that will entirely depend on whether the Chargers can step up. With the issues in management coupled with this team simply not looking like a powerhouse anymore, I need to see some good results before I’ll believe in this franchise again.
Be sure to check out NFL Spin Zone this afternoon as we do a special schedule double-header and continue our AFC West look with a preview of the Kansas City Chiefs.
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