The Los Angeles Chargers will certainly have an uphill battle to face in 2026.
They've made major roster upgrades this offseason, revamping the entirety of the interior offensive line and adding impactful contributors on both sides of the ball. But their slate of games will also present some distinct challenges.
They'll start off with a pair of easy matchups at home against the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders. But after that, they'll be faced with a seven-game gauntlet (graciously separated by a bye week), with matchups against the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, and Baltimore Ravens. After that, that early bye week could come back to bite them. They face two separate trips to the East Coast late in the season to face off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins.
This team clearly has high expectations. This slate will make it difficult to meet them, but not impossible.
If Justin Herbert is able to overcome this schedule and play to the ceiling of what's expected under a Mike McDaniel offense, he could quickly become a serious candidate for MVP.
Justin Herbert's path to MVP is difficult, but the case will be there if he performs well
Views on Herbert across the league are polarized. On the one hand, his lack of playoff success to this point in his career is seen as a major factor in his standing among the league's elite quarterbacks.
On the other, there were those making MVP cases for Herbert last season despite his relatively limited numbers.. Herbert's lack of protection in 2025 limited both his effectiveness and the efficacy of the offense as a whole. Across 16 games, he threw 340 completions for 3,727 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He took 54 sacks in that span.
Compared to his 5,000-yard, 38-touchdown performance in his sophomore campaign, it's clear Herbert wasn't operating at his full potential last season.
But McDaniel has a clear vision for how he wants to maximize Herbert's talents, starting with getting the ball out of the backfield quicker and maximizing the short-passing game through the threat of his outside-zone heavy scheme.
The more difficult stretches of this schedule won't help. But if Herbert and company can emerge from their Week 10 date with the Ravens with at least six wins, they'll be in excellent shape for the playoff race and even, perhaps, the race for the AFC West.
With a murderer's row of defenses post-bye, Herbert will simply need to post respectable numbers in those games.
It's the late-season stretch that will truly define any case he has for MVP. From Week 11 onwards, the Chargers will face four teams that will likely be in the bottom-half of NFL defenses. If he can follow that up with strong performances against the Chiefs in Week 17 and the Broncos in Week 18 (assuming he plays), the path is there for him to form a candidacy.
It will only depend on their ability to emerge intact from their early-season slate.
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