The LA Chargers clinched a playoff spot in Week 16 with a win over the Indianapolis Colts. This was quite the turnaround for the Bolts, who won three games in a row and got help from other AFC teams to clinch far sooner than anyone could have expected.
While the Chargers are already in the dance, there is still something to play for. Surpassing the Baltimore Ravens as the fifth seed in the AFC would be massive as it would pit the Chargers against the winners of the AFC South instead of the Cincinnati Bengals or Kansas City Chiefs.
Los Angeles needs to win out and needs Baltimore to drop one of its last two games. That does not seem like too big of an ask considering the Chargers are playing the LA Rams and Denver Broncos while the Ravens are playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and Bengals.
With so much on the line throughout the league, ESPN utilized its Football Power Index to predict each outcome over the last two weeks. The simulation provided two of the most absurd scoring outcomes imaginable for the Bolts; a 49-27 victory over the Rams and a 41-33 loss against the Broncos.
These score projections for the Chargers are hilarious. https://t.co/o2OgxkrPPO
— Steven Haglund (@StevenIHaglund) December 29, 2022
ESPN probably missed the mark with these Chargers predictions.
It is entirely possible that the LA Chargers split the final two games of the season, especially considering Week 18 is a road divisional game. With Nathaniel Hackett fired, the Broncos may look to get some sort of momentum for the offseason while also playing spoiler for the Bolts' five-seed hopes.
That is not the unrealistic part of the simulation; it is the scores for each game. While the Chargers have as much offensive firepower as anyone in the league, nobody in their right mind would expect the team to score 49 points against the Rams.
Sure, the Rams are really really bad this season but the Chargers do not operate to be a high-scoring offense like this. Plus, the Chargers' defense has really come into its own in recent weeks and it is hard to see Baker Mayfield dropping a 27 spot on them.
Then the simulation has the Denver Broncos scoring 41 points against the Chargers. I know Hackett was a really bad coach but I do not think he was holding the offense back this much. Denver hasn't even scored 30 points in a game this season, let alone 40.
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Let's also not forget the fact that if the Broncos scored just 20 points in every single game they would be 10-5 this season instead of 4-11.