The LA Chargers' season unofficially ended back in Week 14 when the team lost to the Denver Broncos and lost Justin Herbert for the rest of the season. Four days later, the Chargers lost in historic fashion and the organization made a move for the future, firing Brandon Staley and Tom Telesco.
The Chargers have played two games without Staley while fans of the team rooted to lose to improve the draft position. Los Angeles nearly played spoiler and shocked the Buffalo Bills and then dropped an extremely boring game against the Denver Broncos.
Fans who thought Week 17's game was boring are in for yet another doozy in Week 18. The Chargers play the Kansas City Chiefs, who have absolutely nothing to play for and will be playing the backups. Maybe the Chargers can steal a game with some stars returning in Week 18? Well, that is not the case at all, as is highlighted by Thursday's injury report.
thursday’s #KCvsLAC injury report pic.twitter.com/15fumxw3jG
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) January 4, 2024
Chargers-Chiefs is bound to be painful to watch in Week 18
If you have post-holiday plans on Sunday and are worried about missing this game you can rest assured knowing that you won't miss much. On one half of the field, you have Easton Stick with a myriad of backups and on the other half of the field, you have Blaine Gabbert and his fellow backups.
This is a glorified preseason game. There was at least some hope that the likes of Keenan Allen or Joey Bosa would return to action so Chargers fans could get one last thing to root for. That does not appear to be the case and that is the right move to make. Potentially rushing either player back for a pointless Week 18 game would be silly.
Other starters Kenneth Murray and Zion Johnson may join Bosa and Allen. Then you have the likes of Joshua Palmer, Tuli Tuipulotu, Trey Pipkins and Deane Leonard who are all limited participants and are not guaranteed to play on Sunday.
There are going to be a lot of second and third-stringers on the field on Sunday and it is going to result in a very bad football game. The only reason to turn this game on is to see Taylor Swift sitting up in the luxury box, but even she might decide not to show up for this game. Nobody else is.