The Chargers 2023 schedule has officially been released and fans can finally start to buy their tickets for home game and away games to see the Bolts play. While fans already knew who the Chargers were playing and where, the exact order of the schedule still means a lot for planning.
It also means a lot for the team's performance. The anatomy of an NFL schedule absolutely has an impact on a team's regular-season record (just as last year's Minnesota Vikings). And while the Chargers' schedule is relatively easy compared to the rest of the league, they still got some pretty bad beats.
3 ways the NFL screwed the Chargers with the 2023 schedule:
1. The Chargers have a Week 5 bye
It is beneficial to get a bye week that is towards the end of the season. It not only offers a much-needed break and a chance to get healthy but it also keeps a team from having to play too many consecutive weeks.
Unfortunately, the Chargers got the exact opposite of that. The Chargers have a bye week as early as possible in 2023 as they will be taking their break in Week 5. That means that the Bolts will play 13 consecutive weeks to end the 2023 season.
If the Chargers want to make a Super Bowl push the they could potentially have to play 16 straight weeks to get there. They would finally get a break the week before the Super Bowl (assuming they didn't get a first-round bye).
That is a really tall ask for a team that has never made that kind of push toward the Super Bowl before, especially with the bad injury luck this franchise has.
The worst part of all, though, is probably the fact that the Chargers only have back-to-back home games once in 2023 and it happens with the bye week in between.