LA Chargers 24, Denver Broncos 20
The Denver Broncos got the best of the LA Chargers the first time these two teams played as it was one of the worst games that Justin Herbert played this season. It was not really a case of great coaching, which happened against Baltimore and New England. Instead, Herbert missed a lot of throws and threw two untimely picks to Patrick Surtain.
One was in the endzone on a ball that Herbert tried to force, which was a bad decision. The other was on a tipped-pass off the hands of Austin Ekeler. While Ekeler took blame for it, there was a miscommunication and Herbert rifled the ball behind Ekeler, making it a really hard ball to catch. That resulted in a pick-six.
That was a 14 to 21 point swing and while it might give Bronco fans confidence heading into a second matchup against the Chargers, the chances of Herbert playing that poorly again, especially at home, is slim to none.
The Chargers defense did a pretty good job in limiting the Broncos offense, which might be even worse this time. Teddy Bridgewater is not playing in Week 16 after suffering a bad concussion against the Cincinnati Bengals and Drew Lock is starting in place of him. It is still unclear if Bridgewater will play in Week 17, but if not, the Chargers get Lock.
It will still be a close game with the Broncos fighting for their playoff lives and it being a divisional game. The Chargers will be up 24-17 in the fourth quarter, the Broncos will kick a field goal with about six minutes to play and the Bolts will do what they did to Washington in Week 1 and milk the entire rest of the clock to win, 24-17.