Since the heyday of prime Philip Rivers in the late 2000s, playoff appearances have been few and far between for the then-San Diego and now-Los Angeles Chargers. Over the past 15 seasons, they’ve made the playoffs a total of three times (2013, 2018, and 2022). Now, they have done it twice in the past three seasons.
What Is the Los Angeles Chargers’ Current Playoff Picture?
The AFC West has long been decided, with the Kansas City Chiefs claiming yet another victory. That left a Wild Card spot as the Chargers’ only path, and Los Angeles clinched one of the Wild Card spots with their dominant win over the New England Patriots on Saturday.
This is excellent news for Los Angeles, who could have entered a five-way tiebreaker with the Denver Broncos, Miami Dolphins, Indianapolis Colts, and Cincinnati Bengals had they not taken care of business.
Fortunately for the Chargers, the win over New England was as easy as it gets. The Chargers got up big to start and never really looked back. The first half was tough for New England, who did not register a single pressure. It was just the second first half of the season in which a team has not registered pressure in the first half (Commanders vs. Cowboys Week 12). Herbert took advantage for a big day, throwing for 281 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. Los Angeles ultimately won 40-7.
NFL teams typically don’t care much about seeding as Wild Cards — they just want to get in. But this year, there is value in getting the No. 5 seed, as the Texans are locked into the No. 4 seed and sure look primed to go right out in the first round.
For the Chargers to secure the No. 5 seed, they need to win their final game and have the Steelers go no better than 0-1-1 OR win one/tie one, have the Steelers lose both, and have the Broncos match or do worse than the Chargers. With ties being extremely improbable, a final Chargers’ win combined with two Steelers losses is the most straightforward path.