The San Diego Chargers needed a bounce back win after the disaster against the Atlanta Falcons last week and they got it. They’ve also gone 2-0 in the AFC West and 3-0 in the conference. That’s great. They need to keep that going, because they’re winning all the tie breakers at this time.

They travel to battle the New Orleans Saints next and you know that Drew Brees is going to play out of his mind (he still wants revenge on AJ Smith), so they needed this win as a confidence builder going into that game.

All those turnovers by the Chiefs were great for the Bolts. Some of those bungles were self inflicted by the Chiefs, so that’s awful for them, but like the Atlanta Falcons the Bolts were there to pounce. Antoine Cason and Donald Butler have great hands. In fact, I don’t remember ever seeing Cason drop an interception.

They need to keep it up next week, because the Saints can explode and they have weapons at all skill positions, plus this will be their fifth game of the season. They’ll be better than they’ve looked over the first few weeks.

Okay, the San Diego Chargers didn’t really dominate Jamaal Chalres, but with his two huge fumbles, he was pretty much contained. In fact, Charles didn’t do squat until the Chargers were ahead 20-0 and that was after a ridiculous red zone turnover by Philip Rivers that may have prevented the Chargers going up by a score of 27-0.

The Chargers did their thing with turnovers. It would be nice to see them continue this trend, but judging by how many turnovers the Chiefs have (they are now minus 13 in the takeaway battle) the Chargers can’t rely on this game as an indicator of their ability to force turnovers.

Still, guys were flying around and making huge plays. Donald Butler was a home run draft pick. AJ Smith needs to get credit for that. Vaughn Martin was another slam dunk. They’ll need to be on their game for the revenge minded Drew Brees and his New Orleans Saints next week.

Oct 31, 2011; Kansas City, MO, USA; San Diego Chargers running back Ryan Mathews (24) runs the ball against Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Javier Arenas (21) in the first half at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-US PRESSWIRE

Despite the fact that the Chargers are coming off a complete butt whooping last week, I must admit that I feel confident going into the unfriendly confines of Arrowhead Stadium.

I like the way we matchup with the Chiefs.  Arrowhead provides an environment that is electric, to say the least.  The Kansas City fans love their Chiefs.

Last week was a terrible performance in all phases of the game.  Offense, defense, special teams, and coaching all left a lot to be desired.

Offensively the Bolts were unable to protect Rivers and were completely unable to muster a running game.  Well, actually, Mathews looked very quick and explosive prior to the 11th fumble of his career.

That was the play where an obvious momentum shift took place.  But I won’t waste my time, in this article, talking about the importance of momentum or not turning the ball over.

Defensively I was extremely frustrated by the Manusky-like playcalling of John Pagano.  He called the game “scared.”  He refused to send more than four rushers at a time against a soon to become elite quarterback in Matt Ryan.

In my opinion, that is not the recipe for defensive success.  And I certainly don’t want to hear that Cason playing 12 yards off the ball is by design.  If that’s the case, please allow the former Thorpe award winner to play closer to the line of scrimmage.

The special teams portion of the Bolts was let down by Mike Scifres.  Scifres is one of the best punters in the game; please don’t get me wrong.  But that 32 yard shank is not something that we are accustomed with number 5.  Heck, I respect Scifres so much that I own his jersey.  It’s true.

It may not sound as though I have moved on from last week.  But I have and I can’t wait for Sunday.  Enough with last week.  Here are my bold predictions for the Chargers in week 4.

-Ryan Mathews will rush for 125+ yards and not fumble.  He will also have 40+ yards in receiving.  But he will disappoint fantasy football owners, such as myself, by not scoring a touchdown.

-Philip Rivers will throw for over 275 yards and 2 touchdowns.  He will also throw zero picks. We’ll see.

-First and second round picks Melvin Ingram and Kendall Reyes will both get their first sacks.

-Atari Bigby will actually catch an interception this week.  He has, admittedly, had opportunities for picks but has not been able to haul them in for the turnover.

-Jamaal Charles will be contained and held under 85 yards rushing.

-Dwayne Bowe will only have 3 catches.  He will, however, score Kansas City’s lone offensive touchdown.

-Tony Gonzalez will grab 9 receptions for 91 yards at the age of 89 years old.  Oh, wait, that happened last week.  What I meant to say was the Chargers will limit the Chiefs’ tightends to 8 catches and 100 yards between Moeaki and Boss.

-Nate Kaeding will hit a 55+ yard field goal.  Kaeding has a career long of 57 yards that he nailed against Tampa Bay.

-Shaun Phillips will have another two sack game with both coming after the Chargers have a lead.

-Mike Scifres will only have to punt two times.

-Eddie Royal will return a punt for a touchdown only to have it called back for an illegal block in the back.

-Aubrayo Franklin will have 7 tackles at the nose tackle position.

-Matt Cassel will be sacked 6 times.

-Philip Rivers will be sacked four times for the second game in a row.

-Dexter McCluster will have over 100 yards combined between both receiving and rushing.  35 of those yards coming on a reverse.

-Ryan Succop will miss two field goals.

-Chargers will win the game 34 to 13.

There you have it.  Can’t wait for the trolls to come at me for this one.  No, seriously, I can’t wait!  Even though they are leaving hateful, negative comments, that shows us here at BoltBeat.com that you are at least paying attention.

I love haters.  At least they are passionate about what they believe.  The question remains whether or not their hatred is just that or an inner desire to forget that they are completely incapable of doing what the players are expected to do.  But what do I know?  That is up for debate.

Thanks a lot for reading.

BoltUp!!!

BoogaP