Chargers' Playoff Chances Looking Up

On Sunday night the San Diego Chargers showed that when they are on, they have the ability to be one of the NFL's best teams. With their 34-14 thrashing of the Baltimore Raves, the 7-7 Chargers utterly dominated a team that was vying for the top seed in the AFC playoffs on both sides of the ball.

While the Chargers showed they can be among the best the league has to offer, the Denver Broncos lost to the New England Patriots 41-23 and showed that when facing some of the best competition in the league, they may not have what it takes to succeed. 

In winning their third straight game the Chargers finally protected quarterback Philip Rivers (zero sacks), who had a fantastic night. The 30-year-old quarterback completed 17-of-23 passes for 270 yards and one touchdown, without throwing an interception. During San Diego's current winning streak, Rivers has completed 63-of-84 passes (75 percent) for 804 yards, with seven touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Chargers' offense is humming along and showing itself to be one of the top units in the league, while the team's defense finally appears to be coming together. On Sunday night, San Diego sacked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco seven times and forced two interceptions. 

While the Broncos have had a nice run with Tebow under center, they have done most of their damage against teams that were reeling at the time. Their wins have come against: a winless Miami team, an Oakland Raiders squad still adjusting to having Carson Palmer in the lineup, the Kansas City Chiefs, a disorganized New York Jets team, the Chargers (who were in the midst of a six-game losing streak), a terrible Minnesota Vikings team and the Chicago Bears, who had Caleb Hanie at quarterback.

No, those wins weren't lucky, but I do believe Denver caught most of those teams at the right time. Maybe Sunday's loss to the Patriots showed that against a very good team playing exceptionally, the Broncos can't hang.

Meanwhile, the Chargers just proved that they can compete with the best the league has to offer. It has to be so frustrating for San Diego fans because this team may miss the playoffs, but could clearly contend for the AFC championship if it had just won some of its close games earlier in the year.