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.
(2) Ben Johnson knows what he's doing on offense
I think Ben Johnson is one of the best offensive coordinators/play-callers in this league- right up there with Mike McDaniel and Andy Reid amongst play-callers the Chargers have seen this year.........even though one could argue the Chiefs have been more about Matt Nagy this season.
Regardless, good offenses have been able to score on the defense pretty regularly this year- Mike McDaniel with Miami, Kevin O'Connell/Wes Phillips with Minnesota, and Andy Reid/Matt Nagy with Kansas City. Offenses that know what they're doing have fared well against us. Offenses that don't know what they're doing have not fared well. It's been pretty cut-and-dry like that. And Ben Johnson with the Lions firmly fits into that former group with McDaniel, O'Connell, Reid etc.
Remember that stat about Justin Herbert's record when his defense allows less than 27 points? I've got a pretty strong feeling we're going to be looking at a Lions team going well over that 27-point threshold this week, so chances are we're going to have to score ourselves as well.
The Lions are averaging 25 points a game this season -- just barely fewer than the Chargers.
They're also second in yards per game (390.6) trailing just the Dolphins.
And in both the run game and passing game, they have proven themselves to be one of the most well-rounded offenses in all of football:
- 259.3 passing yards per game (6th in the league)
- 131.4 rushing yards per game (6th in the league)
This is a pretty lethal unit that can beat you in a variety of ways. I think we're looking at another Miami Dolphins type game if the defense can't continue the rhythm it's been in the last month.
3. The Lions have one of the best O-lines in football
The strongest aspect of the Chargers defense this year has arguably been the pass rush. I say "arguably" because I know the run defense has been very strong as well, however, the pass rush has really set up everything good for the Bolts this entire season.
How do you hide the weakness in the secondary? Get a strong pass rush going so the secondary won't have the time to be burned.
That's what the Chargers have done with, mainly, Khalil Mack (9 sacks/9 QB hits), Joey Bosa (6.5 sacks/8 QB hits), Tuli Tuipulotu (4 sacks/7 QB hits), and even Morgan Fox (5.5 sacks/8 QB hits) who's really gone under-the-radar amidst the big trio of outside rushers on this team.
My concern, though, is that the Lions have the best offensive line that the Chargers are going to see all season. I'd actually put them only behind the Eagles O-line at this point- they're that good.
The Lions, in turn, have only let up 16 sacks this season. That's with a pretty statuesque quarterback in Jared Goff behind center.
So, this meeting is going to wind up being a test of which unit is better between the Lions' stout offensive line and the Chargers' rapidly evolving defensive line.
This will be the difference when it comes to potentially halting this Lions offense- whoever wins this battle.
4. The Chargers offense is running on fumes
Finally, those other three points I touched on wouldn't be as big of a deal if the Chargers offense was doing what it was doing in the first three games of the season.
34 points against the Dolphins. 24 against the Titans. 28 against the Vikings. The offense was absolutely flowing in all three of those games for the most part.
Now, we've got real issues protecting Justin Herbert and getting the secondary receivers open on a consistent basis.
I have not been comfortable with this Charger offense ever since the second half of the Raiders game, which just so happened to coincide with Justin Herbert breaking his finger.
Since that moment, the flow has just been off. For a number of reasons that we can argue about all day.
It's just a very tough matchup going against this Lions offense when what we've seen from the Charger offense the past month has not been what we're accustomed to.
First and foremost, the O-line has to give Justin time to throw. It is imperative. He hasn't had consistently clean pockets in a very long time.......too long of a time. Not only does Justin badly need that extra second or two, but the receivers outside of Keenan Allen need it badly so they can get open more consistently.
If this game does not go the Bolts' way, I'd like to at least see the offense do what it's capable of again. Four quarters of constant moving of the football. I'm sick of hearing the talking heads diss Justin Herbert. Get back to being one of the most prolific offenses in the league. If they can do that, and the defense can keep playing the way it is, we've got a pretty dangerous team heading into the second half of this season. And a team that will be well on its way to silencing the haters.