Predicting the LA Chargers' primetime games for the 2022 season
By Jason Reed
3. Arizona Cardinals, Thursday Night Football
This feels like a December 8 game to me. It might not seem fair or likely that the LA Chargers to play two Thursday Night Football games in one season but it certainly is not unprecedented. For example, the Cardinals and Packers played on Thursday night early in the season in 2021 and both teams ended up having another Thursday Night Football game later in the year.
The Chargers get their in-division matchup against the Chiefs on Thursday and get their out-of-division matchup against Arizona. You could make the case for the Chargers to play someone else on Thursday considering they play Kansas city on the road but I do not think that will make much of a difference.
Why does this Thursday Night Football matchup make sense? First of all, these are two teams with young, exciting quarterbacks who do not play very often. The Cardinals feel like a prime Thursday night team and an exciting matchup against a team like the Chargers is much better than a Jacksonville-Tennessee snoozefest.
Second of all, the Chargers would have such a short trip to Arizona. This is a destination that the Bolts could legitimately travel to the day of as Phoenix is only an hour flight from Los Angeles. The NFL should be considering things like this, especially if they want to be practical.
I do not see the Chargers playing any of their other road opponents on Thursday and if they were to get a home TNF game then I would predict it to either be in-division against Denver or the Miami Dolphins for the Tua vs. Herbert narrative.