LA Chargers: The importance of avoiding a 1-3 start
By Jason Reed
The LA Chargers are 1-2 on the young season after a loss to the Carolina Panthers.
The LA Chargers are 1-2 on the season and it is a really disappointing 1-2. After escaping the jaws of defeat against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Chargers took it to the Kansas City Chiefs, should have beaten the team (lost in overtime) and then dropped a clunker to the Carolina Panthers in which they beat themselves.
Just a few small changes — such as the Chargers getting into the endzone in the fourth quarter against Kansas City and Austin Ekeler catching the lateral from Keenan Allen — and the Chargers would be 3-0 and this conversation would be different.
Instead, like we seemingly do every season as Charger fans, we are playing the what-if game while the Chargers are actually 1-2.
A 1-2 record is not the best start but it is manageable and can be recovered from, especially with an extra playoff team. Over the last 30 seasons, the Chargers have started the season 1-2 12 times (including the last two seasons) and made the playoffs five out of those 12 times.
Over those 30 years, the Chargers’ average record after a 1-2 start is 8-8, which could be good enough to make the playoffs with a seventh AFC playoff team.
However, things get much harder at 1-3 and the LA Chargers have quite the challenge in Week 4 against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Here is why it is so important for the team to start 2-2 opposed to 1-3, both for historic reasons and for reasons pertaining to the rest of the 2020 season.