This Season's Summer Sequel: AFC West Is Chargers' to Lose

The AFC West is starting to seem like that blockbuster franchise that won’t seem to go away summer after summer.

It’s the same old storyline with a few extra twists along the way.

But for the San Diego Chargers, why mess with success?

After three consecutive division titles, and a combined 15-3 record against divisional opponents during that stretch, the Chargers once again enter the season as the prohibitive favorite in the AFC West.

For years, San Diego has been considered one of the most talented teams in football.
Between LaDainian Tomlinson, Darren Sproles and former Charger Michael Turner, the team has consistently had one of the best rushing attacks in football. They have the most dominant 3-4 linebacker in Shawne Merriman and have an up-and-coming quarterback in Phillip Rivers.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs have been awful in recent years. The Raiders haven’t finished with a record better than 5-11 since going to the Super Bowl after the 2002 season and the Chiefs have a combined six wins in the past two years.

The only real competition for the Chargers has been the Denver Broncos. Denver has as many wins as losses the past three years, but couldn’t even capitalize on a 4-8 start by San Diego last season.

Once again, the Broncos will be the lone challenger in the West, but even they might struggle to stay around .500.

Denver’s offense was long known for its rushing attack. From 2002-2006, the team had four different running backs rush for 1,000 yards a total of five times.

However, the Broncos offense has been going in a different direction the past few years. Jay Cutler, the team’s first young, franchise quarterback since John Elway, finished with 3,497 passing yards in 2007, his first full season as a starter. He followed that up with a 4,526-yard, 25-touchdown performance last season.

And what did that get him? A ticket out of town.

Denver’s one strength last year was their passing game. Now they’re left with Kyle Orton taking snaps, who was unimpressive in three seasons with Chicago.

To make matters worse, the Broncos’ running game is no longer a strength. Their offensive line is going through a rebuilding process, and their only impact running back on the roster is first round pick Knowshon Moreno, who many feel was a reach as the No. 12 selection.

Things aren’t any better on the other side of the ball for Denver. The defense gave up 28 points a game last year, third worst in the NFL.

The Broncos revamped their secondary, bringing in Brian Dawkins, Renaldo Hill and Andre Goodman to start alongside Champ Bailey. But none of those players are getting any younger, and that won’t fix Denver’s problem stopping the run.

And for the first time in 14 seasons, the Broncos won’t be led by Mike Shanahan.
Ownership fired the future Hall of Famer and brought in Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to be the head coach. He promptly ruined his relationship with Cutler and eventually traded the team leader. It has yet to be seen whether or not he can repair his relationship with the team.

With Denver in such a questionable position, it’s likely the team won’t even be able to return to .500.

Couple that with the return of Shawne Merriman and no significant losses to the Charger’s depth chart, and the door appears wide open for San Diego to win the division yet again.