Harbaugh's strategy: avoid Denver's thin air and hostile home crowd. Discover the strategic advantage that makes facing the Broncos a playoff nightmare.
By resting his starters in Week 18 against the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is essentially forfeiting the game. The biggest reasons for doing this? Avoiding having to play the Broncos in Denver one week later, in the Wild Card Round.
But, outside of the obvious (playing against a team two weeks in a row makes it much more difficult to win both games), why would the Chargers be looking to avoid playing against the Broncos? Shouldn't the Chargers, winners of a Week 3 matchup between these two teams, be walking in with their chest puffed out and ready to squash the Broncos?
Well, the Broncos are different than most teams...
Thin Air
The Denver Broncos play about a mile above sea level in the Rocky Mountains. You know this because you know that field goal attempts fly further in Denver, but that is not nearly as large of an impact as the ability to breathe.
The Broncos players, who spend much of their off time in Denver, have acclimated to a climate of thin air. They've exercised in it and their bodies have adjusted. For any players just visiting Denver, it's much harder to get full breaths or reach your cardiovascular peaks.
I think this is talked about a lot more in basketball, where the Nuggets are known to have a significant homecourt advantage because it is literally easier for them to breathe, but it is also applicable in football.
Home Cooking
Not entirely due to the above point about the air, but certainly related to it, the Broncos hold one of the NFL's best homefield advantages.
Over the last 30 years, the Broncos winning percentage at home is .668. The NFL's average winning percentage for a home team over that same timespan is just .569.
If you're going to take on any NFL team at their home stadium, especially with your playoff hopes on the line, the Broncos might be the team you would least want to face.
One more thing...
The Broncos 13-3 record shows off just how good they have been this season, but their loss against the Jaguars (that ended an 11-game winning streak) shows that they might not be the most dangerous team in the AFC this postseason.
A Chargers win (along with a Patriots win against the Dolphins) keeps them out of the sights of both the Broncos and Jaguars for a little while longer.