As the start of the 2025 NFL regular season is just weeks away, predictions on how the upcoming campaign will play out are naturally everywhere right now.
But one will be hard-pressed to find anything as thorough as the prognostications put forth by our Minute Media colleague Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated, who recently dropped his annual piece in which he predicts the outcomes of all 272 regular-season games, which is obviously quite the mammoth undertaking.
So, how does Orr see the season playing out for the Los Angeles Chargers?
Well, to be honest, it's a bit of a mixed bag, one which Bolts fans will likely both love and hate simultaneously. We'll get into things in more detail in a moment, but let's first go ahead and reveal his game-by-game guesses for Jim Harbaugh & Co.
Week | Opponent | Prediction (Record) |
|---|---|---|
1 | vs. Chiefs (Brazil) | Win (1-0) |
2 | at Raiders | Loss (1-1) |
3 | vs. Broncos | Loss (1-2) |
4 | at Giants | Win (2-2) |
5 | vs. Commanders | Loss (2-3) |
6 | at Dolphins | Win (3-3) |
7 | vs. Colts | Win (4-3) |
8 | vs. Vikings | Loss (4-4) |
9 | at Titans | Win (5-4) |
10 | vs. Steelers | Win (6-4) |
11 | at Jaguars | Win (7-4) |
12 | Bye | N/A (7-4) |
13 | vs. Raiders | Win (8-4) |
14 | vs. Eagles | Loss (8-5) |
15 | at Chiefs | Loss (8-6) |
16 | at Cowboys | Win (9-6) |
17 | vs. Texans | Win (10-6) |
18 | at Broncos | Loss (10-7) |
As you can see, Orr has the Chargers finishing at 10-7, which is a touch worse than the 11-6 mark they posted a season ago. The good news, however, is that he still predicts that they'll sneak into the AFC playoff picture, which he sees shaking out like this:
- Baltimore Ravens (12-5)
- Buffalo Bills (12-5)
- Kansas City Chiefs (11-6)
- Houston Texans (10-7)
- Denver Broncos (10-7)
- Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)
- Los Angeles Chargers (10-7)
So, let's get into this a little bit.
Chargers fans have something to love (and hate) in this prediction
Bolts fans naturally have to love Orr predicting a win over the Chiefs in Week 1 in Brazil. But that love quickly goes away when he predicts a Week 2 loss to the Raiders and then a Week 3 loss at home to the Broncos.
A nice hot streak follows, as he has L.A. winning seven of its next nine to move to 8-4, with the only two losses in that stretch coming to NFC opponents in the Commanders and Vikings. The stretch ends with a win over Las Vegas, so that's always nice.
Unfortunately, however, Orr has them stumbling a bit down the stretch, taking back-to-back defeats to the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles and the Chiefs in Weeks 14 and 15 before bouncing back with back-to-back victories over the Cowboys and Texans. A win over Houston would be nice, of course, given what happened in the playoffs this past January.
But he then predicts a second loss to Denver in the regular-season finale, which would be why the Broncos, whom he thinks will finish with the same 10-7 record, have the higher seed in the playoffs. However, Orr isn't completely convinced that a sweep will occur, as he explains in his full breakdown for the Chargers, which Bolts fans might find a little maddening, seeing as how he says he almost picked them to take the division.
"I have the Chargers finishing in third place but still making the playoffs. I toyed with a version of this prediction matrix that had L.A. winning the division, which doesn’t sound so far-fetched when you remember that Jim Harbaugh took a really bad team to the playoffs in 2024.
"The roster continues to churn and get better. This offense is going to be more stable, even without the help of Rashawn Slater, who is a devastating loss but is backed by Joe Alt moving to left tackle and the experienced Trey Pipkins III slotting over on the right side.
"Outside of getting swept by the Broncos which, again, I don’t see happening the more I think about it, I feel like this is a pretty agreeable breakdown with L.A. winning the games it is supposed to win and falling only to the teams that have an overwhelming advantage defensively (and, yes, once against the Raiders, just because)."
See what I mean?
In this scenario, as you saw above, a seventh-place finish in the conference would force the Chargers to visit Buffalo to take on the second-seeded Bills in the Wild Card Round, which doesn't sound very appealing.
One would assume, even with what went down last season, that L.A. would prefer another date in Houston against the Texans, which is what the Broncos would have if everything plays out this way. I mean, the top seed and a week off is obviously the real preference, but you get the point.
Of course, the likelihood of everything falling into place with these predictions is low, but it's still entertaining, as it means that football that matters is close. We'll just have to wait and see how much of this comes to fruition.