NFL Week 3 Picks: Teams Set to Pick Up Huge Road Wins This Weekend

In order to be a Super Bowl contender, you have to be able to win on the road.

Whether it's in the postseason or the regular season, you cannot lift the Lombardi Trophy without winning your fair share of away games.

Either you win enough to earn home field for the playoffs, or you're a lower seed who has to travel and take on the best teams in your conference in front of their home fans.

Plenty of teams in the past have used their home-field advantage to their benefit in the regular season but then flopped in the playoffs. They couldn't handle the elements, or a raucous road atmosphere rattled their key players.

Although not all three of these teams are playoff contenders, they should be able to hit the road and earn nice victories this week.

San Diego Chargers

The San Diego Chargers are lucky to be 1-1, but they've had a tough start in terms of the schedule. There's no shame in losing to the Houston Texans by three points and then squeaking by the Philadelphia Eagles.

San Diego's offense looks miles better than it did last year. Philip Rivers isn't turning the ball over, and more guys continue stepping up in the receiving corps.

More importantly, the offensive line has improved in a big way. You would have thought the Texans were going to have their way with the Chargers in Week 1. Instead, Houston only had two sacks the entire game.

Missing D.J. Fluker could be a problem on Sunday after he picked up a concussion in practice, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune's Michael Gehlken.

The Chargers should be helped out by facing off against the Tennessee Titans.

Any team with Jake Locker as the starting quarterback is a team you can't trust. He still needs to do a lot more to become a more consistent NFL QB. Even against a suspect Chargers defense, he is going to struggle.

Chicago Bears

Although they needed some fortuitous bounces last week, the Chicago Bears have looked strong through the first two weeks. They outplayed the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1 and then got that big interdivisional win against the Minnesota Vikings.

Jay Cutler is looking like a much more composed quarterback, perhaps because he has a solid offensive line in front of him. That O-line is also opening holes for Matt Forte, which is helping to take pressure off Cutler and the air attack.

This is a well-balanced team on both sides of the ball. Chicago should be able to make it three wins in a row.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are a complete mess. Their defense is still talented and has fallen off too much. The bigger problem is the offense, which is abject. The running game is nonexistent, and it's affecting the passing game as well.

Against a tough Bears defense, it's hard picking Pittsburgh to break through, even at home.

New York Giants

Until the Carolina Panthers prove otherwise, they can't be taken too seriously. Carolina avoids consistency like the plague. Should the Panthers start the season 0-3, you can write them off in terms of the postseason.

Of course, the same can be said of the New York Giants. However, their two losses came against good football teams, and they also didn't surrender 296 yards passing to EJ Manuel.

If Manuel can do that, then Eli Manning could easily go for 350-400 yards.

The question will be whether New York can get production from the running game. The Giants have the best passing offense after two weeks, but their running backs are dragging the whole unit down.

David Wilson didn't fumble the ball, so he's at least making progress. After Week 1, it was easy to forget the expectations for the second-year rusher before the year started.

Trust in Wilson as he is due for a breakout game. He's going to get going and give Manning plenty of support as the Giants finally get in the win column.