The LA Chargers are coming off of a 10-7 season and are looking to build off of that in 2023. Making the playoffs in 2022 snapped a four-year drought and if the team is able to make the playoffs in consecutive years in will be the first time the franchise has done so since the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
A big factor in whether or not a team makes the playoffs is the opponents they have to face along the way. While the Chargers are a talented team, it does help to get an easier schedule to pick up some momentum for a playoff run.
Look at the Philadelphia Eagles last season. While they undoubtedly were a great team, they also had a tremendously easy schedule and playoff path that led them to the Super Bowl. That absolutely had a factor.
Will the Chargers have that same luck? It might not be as easy as the Eagles, but things are looking promising with several 2023 opponents already getting worse.
Chargers 2023 opponents:
AFC West opponents (two games versus each):
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Denver Broncos
Chargers 2023 home opponents:
- Buffalo Bills
- Miami Dolphins
- Chicago Bears
- Detroit Lions
- Baltimore Ravens
- Dallas Cowboys
Chargers 2023 away opponents:
- New England Patriots
- New York Jets
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Tennessee Titans
How is the Chargers 2023 opponents determined?
There is actually a fixed formula that determines who a team will play in any given season that applies to all NFL teams. The formula simply changes based on which divisions are rotated to play each other in any given year.
Six games are against the Chargers' division foes. Each division then plays a game against every single team in two other divisions. Every AFC West team will play every AFC East team and every NFC North team. That gets us to 14 total games.
The remaining three games are based on where a team finishes in the division the year prior. As the second place team in the AFC West, the Chargers are scheduled to play the second place team of the other two AFC divisions that are not already scheduled. In this case it is the Baltimore Ravens and Tennessee Titans.
The 17th and final game is scheduled against another second place team from an NFC Division. This year, that division for the AFC West is the NFC East, which is why the Dallas Cowboys are scheduled.
When is the Chargers 2023 schedule released?
Right now we only know who the Chargers play in 2023. We do not know the exact order of the games. The NFL typically releases the schedule in early-to-mid May with it falling on May 12 the last two years.
The NFL has not locked in a date but expect the Chargers schedule to be released around halfway through the second week of May.