The No. 7 seed Los Angeles Chargers are set to open up their NFL postseason at Gillette Stadium against the No. 2 seed New England Patriots on Sunday Night Football.
They already know that a win would lock them into a road matchup against the No. 1 seed Denver Broncos, since they are the lowest seeded team in the AFC bracket.
With that in mind, it’s also safe to assume that, with a victory over New England, the Chargers’ first Divisional Round appearance since the 2018-19 playoffs would come next Saturday, rather than next Sunday. Here’s why.
Why the Chargers would likely play next Saturday, not Sunday
Monday night’s Wild Card matchup is set to feature the No. 5 seed Houston Texans and the No. 4 Pittsburgh Steelers. Since the Monday night Wild Card game was added to the schedule back in 2021, the NFL has never had the winner play the following Saturday.
Additionally, the NFL tends to schedule one AFC game and one NFC game on both the Saturday and the Sunday of Divisional Round weekend.
As the No. 7 seed, if the Chargers were to beat the Patriots, they would obviously still be team with the lowest remaining seed in the AFC.
This would not only guarantee that they’d be matched up against Denver, but it would guarantee that the Texans-Steelers winner would be matched up against the No. 6 seed Buffalo Bills, who beat the No. 3 seed Jacksonville Jaguars earlier on Sunday.
The Bills game would be contested in either Houston or Pittsburgh, and following along with the NFL's past scheduling trends, it would likely be scheduled for next Sunday.
And because the Chargers can't possibly match up against the Texans or Steelers next week, it’s exactly why they can expect to play next Saturday, should they manage to take care of business tonight.
As for tonight’s game, the two teams most recently met at Foxborough in a December 2024 regular season game won 40-7 by the Chargers, but Gillette Stadium has been somewhat of a house of horrors for Chargers fans over the years.
The Chargers lost to an undefeated Patriots team in the 2007 AFC Championship Game, and their current three-game playoff losing streak started in New England in the 2018 postseason. The Chargers have not won a playoff game in seven years.
As for the Broncos, the two AFC West rivals split their regular season series, with each team winning at home. Will that series turn into a trilogy next week?