Los Angeles Chargers: NFL Playoffs or Bust in 2018

The Los Angeles Chargers have a ton of talent, so its no surprise the team has been relatively quiet this offseason. What does this mean for 2018? Its officially playoffs or bust — no more excuses.

No matter how poor or successful a team’s season was, there are always major offseason questions on the front burner. The NFL turns over too much for even the best teams to advance a calendar year unscathed. Let’s continue the team-by-team overview with the Los Angeles Chargers.

This offseason, the Chargers have signed a center, backup tight end, third-string quarterback, and a kicker. The kicker was probably the most notable piece since the LA kicking game was so bad in 2017. Going out the other direction, the most notable moving piece was the suspension of Corey Liuget. It was a quiet offseason for Los Angeles’ “other” team.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the Los Angeles Chargers in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

Am I crazy, or is running it back a good thing for a team that hasn’t made the playoffs in five years? This roster is super talented, with perhaps the lone exception being the interior of the defensive front seven. The offensive line needs a healthy return of Forrest Lamp for his do-over rookie year, but other than that, there are few holes.

That begs the question, is this Chargers team good enough to win the AFC West and make waves in the postseason?

Prior to the 2017 season, many thought this division could be the toughest in the league. Oakland and Denver struggled, and that didn’t materialize. However, the ceiling still exists in 2018, as all four teams range from competent to excellent in numerous aspects of the game, Los Angeles included. That, by default, gives the Chargers a hard schedule, but no one will want to play them either.

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My main issue with this team is how many supreme talents still feel like injury risks. Keenan Allen, Russell Okung, Lamp, and Melvin Gordon on offense could all be on the shelf for extended periods. On defense, the same goes for Jason Verrett, and Liuget is already sidelined for four games due to suspension. Last season, the Chargers were around league-average in adjusted games lost due to injury according to Football Outsiders. That’s a good showing for them though! The season prior, they ranked 31st, worse than everyone except the history-making Chicago Bears. The year before, they were 27th, and the year before that, 31st again. And the year before that, they were 28th. You get the idea. If the New York Giants didn’t grab headlines this decade as perennially being so damn injured, the then-San Diego Chargers would have stolen that mantle.

Obviously, no quality team can overcome vast injuries, and no squad can exactly game plan against them either. They are the luck of the draw. It just feels like Los Angeles’ luck is on shaky ground. Throw in its penchant for squandering late leads, and I don’t see LA coming out of this tough division fight. Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly what can be done to change that either. This roster certainly has enough talent to compete.

Dan Salem:

I liked the Chargers last season as a sleeper pick to make the playoffs. While they fell short, the season was still a success in terms of wins and losses. No one likes to make excuses, but special teams and the kicking game in particular really hurt Los Angeles in 2017. They were a good football team that rarely closed games. Do we expect them to score more points in 2018? What about giving up fewer points to their opponents? One of those things must happen for this team to get over the playoff hump.

In twelve seasons with Philip Rivers at quarterback, the Chargers have had a losing record only three times. He’s taken his team to the playoffs at 8-8, while missing the postseason multiple times with 9-7 records. Needless to say, the odds of Los Angeles finishing with a winning record in 2018 are rather high. I love their chances of returning to the playoffs, considering the quarterback upheaval within the AFC West.

Both the Chiefs and Broncos will be starting relatively new quarterbacks, either in years or time spent in their respective offense. Oakland is an enigma, because they grossly underachieved in 2017 by all accounts. I hate to second your notion that making only a few small moves, also known as doing nothing, was best for the Chargers. But it certainly was this offseason.

The NFL Draft will push Los Angeles over the top, assuming they nail a few picks. Adding starters at a few key positions will build the depth this team needs to survive injuries, because we know they are coming. I agree that the talent is there, but that has so often been the story for the Chargers, at least on paper. So often that talent gets injured, or the team loses an exorbitant number of close football games. Year two under Anthony Lynn will be telling. Rivers won’t be there much longer, so its now or never. Its playoffs or bust.

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Rolling with the talent you have is smart, especially when it has yet to all play healthy together for an extended period of time. Los Angeles will get lucky at some point, in terms of injuries and close finishes. Those things always balance out over time. This team was top 10 in yards on offense and points given up on defense. It was dead center in points scored on offense and yards given up. Those are building block stats. Those are good enough to get this team to the playoffs in the AFC.