Chargers schedule 2023: Predicting LA's primetime games
By Jason Reed
The Chargers 2023 schedule is expected to be released on May 11 and it will be an exciting day for fans. While we already know who the team is playing and whether it will be home or away, we do not know the exact order of the games and how the schedule will shape out. All of that matters.
We also do not know when the Chargers are going to be on primetime. This is not the Chargers team of old that got one primetime game a year, either. This is a star-studded team led by Justin Herbert that the NFL now loves to feature. The Bolts got flexed into primetime twice last year (and flexed out once) and were initially scheduled for five primetime games.
It is safe to assume that the league is going to give the Bolts the same number of primetime games in 2023. With that in mind, let's have some fun and predict who those primetime games are going to be against before the schedule is officially released.
Predicting the primetime games on the Chargers 2023 schedule:
1. Baltimore Ravens at LA Chargers, Thursday Night Football
The NFL loves to put the Chargers on Thursday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs but this year it will be a different opponent. Instead, a primetime matchup on Thursday between the Ravens and Chargers could be a lot of fun.
These are two of the best quarterbacks in the league in Herbert and Lamar Jackson and while Baltimore is not necessarily a big market, the Ravens are a historic football team that gets plenty of chances of playing under the spotlight of primetime.
2. Buffalo Bills at LA Chargers, Sunday Night Football
C'mon. This is Josh Allen vs Justin Herbert. Allen and the Bills are undoubtedly going to be on primetime when they play the Chiefs and it would be shocking if they did not get the same treatment when they play the Chargers.
This legitimately could be a matchup that we see in the AFC Divisional or AFC Championship Round. The league would be foolish to stash this away at 1 p.m. Pacific.
3. LA Chargers at New York Jets, Sunday Night Football
The NFL schedule-makers are smart and with Aaron Rodgers now in the Big Apple they are likely expecting the New York Jets to make a playoff push. They might not lead the division because of the Bills, but they will be in the hunt.
The Chargers will also be in the hunt so what is the perfect thing to do? Put the Chargers against the Jets late in the season on Sunday Night Football so NFL fans can watch a game with massive playoff stakes between two different generations of quarterbacks.
4. LA Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs, Monday Night Football
There has to be at least one Chargers-Chiefs primetime game as it would be foolish for there not to be one. As long as Herbert and Patrick Mahomes are slinging it we should be penciled in for at least one primetime matchup every single season.
That matchup has been on Thursday Night Football in each of the last two years and while Amazon will always be pounding the table for the Chiefs, this year it feels like it could be a Monday Night Football game.
Then again, the defending Super Bowl Champions always open the season on Thursday Night Football in Week 1 (which is usually broadcast on NBC). It wouldn't be totally surprising to see the league make Chargers-Chiefs the first game of the year...
5. Dallas Cowboys at LA Chargers, Monday Night Football
Last time these two teams played they played during the late slate of games and I still do not think that is out of the picture. Fox loves to showcase the Cowboys during the late slate of games with their A-team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olson calling the game.
However, they could also put these teams on ESPN on Monday Night Football with former Cowboys QB Troy Aikman calling the game in the entertainment capital of the world. This would do wonders as a Monday Night Football game.
MORE: Grading every pick the Chargers made in the 2023 NFL Draft