LA Chargers: Five games that will make or break the Chargers’ season
By Jason Reed
Week 4 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Week 5 @ New Orleans Saints
The LA Chargers have two really tough road games in back-to-back weeks early on in the season that is really going to test the team and prove how good they can be in 2020. Week 2 against the Chiefs will be the first litmus test, and after Week 5, we will have a better idea of how good the Chargers stand up against playoff foes.
If the Chargers lose to the Chiefs in Week 2 then winning one of these two games would be imperative for the Chargers. While they are not even AFC opponents, dropping three of the first five games and losing to each playoff contender you face is not the recipe to be a playoff team.
If the Chargers have a 3-2 record after Week 5 then that is perfectly fine. That would indicate that they beat at least one of these three teams, and if they play the other games close, I will feel a lot better about the playoff prospects.
This was the worst back-to-back games that the Chargers probably could have gotten, though. The team already doesn’t typically travel great to the East Coast and they have back-to-back games in Tampa Bay and New Orleans against two of the five greatest quarterbacks of all-time.
The Chargers will be on the grand stage against the Saints on Monday Night Football and laying a goose egg against the Saints will be damning to the Chargers’ status, even if they beat the Bucs.
If the Chargers are going to be a playoff team, they have to win one of these first three challenges.