New England dismisses the Chargers, a dangerous oversight. This tough, aggressive defense and resilient team are poised to surprise.
The Los Angeles Chargers are heading into Week 18 with a playoff date against Drake Maye and the New England Patriots all but locked up. With Los Angeles resting starters against a Denver team chasing the AFC’s top seed, Buffalo playing their starters against the abysmal New York Jets and New England still pushing for a bye against Miami, everything appears settled. It would take a truly catastrophic chain of events for Buffalo or New England to lose while the Chargers somehow beat Denver with what is essentially a preseason roster on the field.
Strangely enough, with the matchup nearly set, fans on both sides seem to believe this is the opponent they wanted. Each fanbase sees it as their clearest path to the divisional round. Patriots fans, however, may be in for a surprise. Maybe they’re looking back at past playoff matchups or leaning into old narratives, but these are not the same old Chargers.
Do they have flaws? Absolutely. Is the offensive line hanging together by strands at this point? Unfortunately, yes. But this team is tough. Really tough. And New England has not seen a Jesse Minter defense like the one the Chargers have been rolling out since the bye week. Minter has turned up the pressure, mixed looks constantly and will do everything in his power to make a second-year quarterback uncomfortable from the opening snap.
The special teams unit has done a complete turnaround in coverage. The offense may still be inconsistent, but Justin Herbert is a completely different animal. Drake Maye is talented, but if he were dealing with the same weekly circumstances Herbert has faced, the MVP conversation might sound very different.
The Chargers will walk into Foxborough playing with house money. Road underdogs. West Coast team. Cold weather. Early kickoff. Everything about this game says it should tilt toward New England. But these are exactly the moments Jim Harbaugh was brought in for. This is where the culture change is supposed to show itself.
Patriots fans will be loud all day, but the Chargers are built to handle noise and play through it. This defense is nothing like what New England would see from Buffalo in Round One. Once again, the Chargers are being overlooked.
And as Harbaugh said in his introductory press conference, “Don’t let the powder blues fool ya.”
Let’s see how the season ends and how this team stacks up when it matters most.