With the Los Angeles Chargers' difficult schedule, the division rival Las Vegas Raiders are the least of their worries.
After a pair of easy early-season matchups against the Arizona Cardinals and Raiders, they'll enter an absolute gauntlet—with a pre- and post-bye string of matchups against the Buffalo Bills, Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, and Baltimore Ravens looming.
While those matchups obviously carry a massive degree of importance, that string of games also means the Chargers can't afford to drop any of their supposedly 'easy' games. Nothing is given in the NFL on a week-to-week basis, and they'll need to grind out every win possible if they want to have any shot of finishing atop the AFC West in 2026.
Las Vegas' decision to start the season with veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins under center, which was officially reported by Adam Schefter today, has long been expected. Klint Kubiak seemed hesitant to throw first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza into the fire immediately, and starting the season with Cousins gives the offense a surer quantity to operate around as the Raiders figure out their new offensive identity.
But the decision also grants the Chargers the perfect timing to come away with two relatively easy wins in their looming matchups with Las Vegas, and it's thus a major gift in their bid for the AFC West.
Chargers are perfectly poised to earn a pair of 'easy' wins over the Raiders in 2026
The Raiders, by all means, should be significantly more competent on both sides of the ball than they were last season. Cousins, at the very least, should have a higher week-to-week floor than Geno Smith, and Kubiak should be able to weaponize Ashton Jeanty and Brock Bowers on a more consistent basis than Pete Carroll's offense could. On the defensive side of the ball, their bevy of additions this offseason—especially in the linebacker room—should immediately raise their floor as well.
There's a large gulf between improved and good, though.
The Raiders will likely finish with as somewhere between a five and seven-win team this season, especially if they give Mendoza the chance to start around the middle of the campaign. None of those should come against the Chargers, though.
Los Angeles should have no problem disposing with the Raiders in their Week 2 matchup, especially with Cousins under center. The Chargers defense knows how to exploit turnover-prone quarterbacks with their zone-heavy scheme, and the offense has a warm-up game against Arizona to prepare to exploit the completely re-shaped Las Vegas defense.
Any semblance of competitiveness the Raiders find will likely come later in the season— once Mendoza has inevitably taken the job and gotten his feet under him. If Las Vegas were to choose to start Mendoza right away, they'd have a greater chance of being at that level by the time the two teams met again in Week 14.
But assuming Cousins heads to the bench around Week 10 or 11, that leaves Mendoza only three or four weeks with the offense to get comfortable, and Los Angeles can absolutely feast on a rookie quarterback by the time we reach that point in the season.
The Raiders made the right choice by keeping Mendoza on the bench at the start of the campaign. But in doing so, they've likely made it easier for the Chargers to earn a pair of key wins this season— which will give them an immediate leg up in any race for the AFC West
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