As the Los Angeles Chargers came away with two improbable victories against the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, they effectively secured their place as a Wild Card team in the AFC: a miraculous result given the injuries that they have dealt with this season.
Yet, as Week 16 approaches, the Chargers are slated play the Dallas Cowboys, who will almost certainly be eliminated from playoff contention by the time the the game kicks off, while the Broncos will play the ascendant Jacksonville Jaguars, leaving Los Angeles's chances of winning the division, while slim, most certainly still alive.
As it stands, they only currently have a 9% chance to claim the AFC West title according to The Athletic's NFL Playoff Simulator. Yet, with a Chargers win and a Broncos loss in Week 16, that number rises to a much more tenable 26%.
Therefore, any chance that Los Angeles has of pulling off the impossible begins this week.
The Chargers chances to win the division are not just technically alive, they could become scarily real with right results in Week 16
Although Los Angeles came away with season-defining wins in their last two games, they were by no means pretty. Yet, as they head into Dallas to face the Cowboys, they will likely have more breathing room than they have had in weeks.
After it seemed like they would make a push for the NFC East around Thanksgiving, Dallas has lost their last two games, ceding 78 points between the two matchups and essentially waving goodbye to any shot they had at a playoff berth this season.
If the Philadelphia Eagles get the win on Saturday against the Marcus Mariota-led Washington Commanders, Dallas will have nothing left to fight for by the time they suit up for their game on Sunday.
The Broncos, meanwhile, are coming off of their best game of the season with their defeat of the Green Bay Packers. Yet, their opponent will likely present a significantly tougher challenge than what the Chargers will be faced with.
The Jaguars, including their blowout win over Los Angeles, have now won five straight games, and their offense appears to be clicking in a way it has at only rare intervals throughout Trevor Lawrence's career. While Denver is still almost certainly the better team on paper, Jacksonville has a real chance to give them a run for their money.
Were both the Jaguars and the Chargers to prevail, Los Angeles could then withstand a Broncos' victory next week against the Chiefs as long as they prevailed over the Houston Texans. This would set them up for an absolutely electric, division-deciding matchup in Week 18.
That's better odds than many fans could have even imagined at some points this season, and it will certainly make this final stretch of the season interesting.