It's the toughest test of the year for the LA Chargers as they host the 6-2 Detroit Lions at SoFi Stadium in Week 10.
It's been smooth sailing the past two weeks for the Bolts, but the Lions now present a unique threat to the AFC West playoff hopefuls.
As much as it pains me to admit it, here are four reasons the Lions could be a major problem for the Chargers in Week 10
1. Jared Goff does not fit the mold of a quarterback the Charger defense has feasted on this year
I think what's gotten lost in the sauce a bit has been the level of quarterback play the Chargers have faced in recent weeks. We have four wins this year, three of them being against Tyson Bagent, Zach Wilson, and Aidan O'Connell- two rookie quarterbacks and one pretty bad QB in Wilson.
LA's defense has been able to take advantage of the youth and inexperience, though we did get the outlier victory against Kirk Cousins in Week 3.
However, the quarterbacks we've lost to are Tua Tagovailoa, Ryan Tannehill, Dak Prescott, and Patrick Mahomes- four veteran quarterbacks who are probably not going to play into the hands of a defense that preys on young signal callers.
Jared Goff obviously fits into that second group. He's been around for a long time, he's now on his second team where he's found his second wind, and right now he's playing some pretty damn good football. There's also the narrative of him coming back to LA where, of course, he broke into this league with Sean McVay and the Rams.
I think beating him is going to be really tough in a spot like this, especially when he's got everything in line to his liking on this Lions team from the coaching to the O-line to the weaponry.
But finding a way to defeat Goff would give this defense a major boost heading into the second half of the season.