As difficult as it may be to believe, the midway point of this 2025 NFL regular season is nearly upon us, as eight weeks of action are officially now in the books following the Kansas City Chiefs' dominant 28-7 win over the Washington Commanders on Monday Night Football.
And while 10 weeks obviously still remain, we figure it's certainly not too early to start looking ahead to the postseason, especially seeing as how the Los Angeles Chargers, who are looking to make consecutive playoff appearances for the first time since taking four straight trips from 2006 to 2009, would've been on the outside looking in as it pertains to the AFC playoff picture had things gone differently in their own Week 8 contest this past Thursday night.
Despite having lost three of their last four coming into their prime-time matchup with the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday Night Football, the Bolts still held the No. 6 slot in the conference at 4-3. Nevertheless, given the struggles the team had gone through during that stretch, Thursday still felt like a must-win for the Chargers, and they undoubtedly came through in convincing fashion, cruising to an easy 37-10 victory.
And as the rest of the week's action played out, the victory continued to look better and better.
The Chargers sit in the No. 6 slot in the AFC heading into Week 9
Here's a look at the updated AFC playoff picture heading into Week 9. The top seven teams in each conference, of course (four division winners, three wild cards), earn postseason berths.
Updated AFC playoff picture
- Indianapolis Colts (7-1, 1st AFC South)
- New England Patriots (6-2, 1st AFC East)
- Denver Broncos (6-2, 1st AFC West)
- Pittsburgh Steelers (4-3, 1st AFC North)
- Buffalo Bills (5-2, 2nd AFC East)
- Los Angeles Chargers (5-3, 2nd AFC West)
- Kansas City Chiefs (5-3, 3rd AFC West)
- Jacksonville Jaguars (4-3, 2nd AFC South)
- Houston Texans (3-4, 3rd AFC South)
- Cincinnati Bengals (3-4, 3rd AFC North)
- Las Vegas Raiders (2-5, 4th AFC West)
- Baltimore Ravens (2-5, 3rd AFC North)
- Cleveland Browns (2-6, 4th AFC North)
- Miami Dolphins (2-6, 3rd AFC East)
- New York Jets (1-7, 4th AFC East)
- Tennessee Titans (1-7, 4th AFC South)
As you can see, the Chargers continue to hold the No. 6 slot. And as mentioned, their win over the Vikings holds a lot of relevance, as it ultimately kept them within one game of the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos, who improved to 6-2 with a 44-24 win on Sunday over the Dallas Cowboys, whom Los Angeles will see in Week 16.
The Bolts also continue to remain ahead of the Chiefs, who, as mentioned, picked up a win on Monday night over the Commanders to match Los Angeles at 5-3. But with the Bolts taking the only head-to-head matchup between the two thus far in Week 1, they remain ahead of the three-time defending AFC champs in the standings by way of the NFL's tiebreaker rules.
A loss to the Vikings on Thursday would have obviously put the Chargers behind the Chiefs and also would've knocked them out of the current AFC playoff picture, as their 4-4 record would've put them behind the Jacksonville Jaguars, whose 4-3 record has them in the No. 8 slot, which is where Los Angeles would have been with a defeat. The Bolts take on the Jags in Week 11, which could turn out to be a very important matchup down the line if a head-to-head tiebreaker is needed in a wild-card situation.
Again, there's a lot of football to be played between now and January, but the Bolts hitting their Week 9 matchup with the Tennessee Titans at 5-3 looks a lot better than 4-4.