Shocker: Chargers a contender
L.A. in playoff hunt after starting the season at 0-4
COSTA MESA, Calif. – Antonio Gates has lived through some wild years during his 15 seasons in the NFL, but this one might be the most bizarre of all.
Gates’ Los Angeles Chargers were pretty much left for dead after starting 0-4. But here comes December, and they’re back in the middle of the AFC West race. This isn’t normal.
“It speaks volumes about what this league is all about,” Gates told USA TODAY this week.
The veteran tight end has twice been on teams that cruised to playoff byes (only to lose their postseason opener). Gates was on a team that won the division with an 8-8 record. Another year the Chargers started 1-3 yet reached the AFC title game.
Now an old head amid a young locker room, Gates found himself spewing clichés when this season seemed lost. After all, as the Chargers stumbled early, the Kansas City Chiefs sprinted to a 5-0 start as the NFL’s last unbeaten team.
“I was telling the guys, ‘We’re just into the second quarter of the season. It’s one week at a time,’ ” Gates reflected. “This is the first time I started 0-4, but I do understand that this is a marathon.”
With a victory against the winless Browns this Sunday, the Chargers (5-6) will be back at .500. Furthermore, as crazy as it sounds, the Bolts suddenly look like the team to beat in their division.
They have an experienced, big-time quarterback in Philip Rivers, who leads a balanced offense. The foundation of L.A.’s defense begins with maybe the NFL’s best pass-rush duo in Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram, who have combined for 19 sacks.
Receiver Keenan Allen is a comeback player of the year candidate, finding his stride after suffering an opening-day knee injury in 2016.
The Chargers do still have kicking issues and the league’s worst run defense ... but nobody’s perfect.
It’s been pretty much a perfect storm getting here, just a game out of first place. L.A.’s rise has coincided with the collapse of the Chiefs (6-5). The other entries in what was supposed to arguably be the NFL’s best divisions have fallen on hard times, too. The Raiders, preseason darlings, have been inconsis- tent, largely thanks to a dreadful defense. The Broncos have lost seven in a row, started three quarterbacks and fired offensive coordinator (and former Chargers head coach) Mike McCoy.
That’s just perfect for the Bolts, who are rolling with a last-place schedule and currently slated to play just one team with a winning record — Kansas City in Week 15 — the rest of the way. Guess parity and mediocrity have their perks.
If they can pull it off, the Chargers will become the second team since the 1970 merger to make the playoffs after starting 0-4. (The other? The 1992 Chargers.)
“We’re still fighting,” rookie head coach Anthony Lynn said. “We’re trying to get that next win.
“I know we’re one game out in our division, but we have some catching up to do.”
Lynn, a no-nonsense type with a link to the Bill Parcells school of hard knocks, admits the Chargers are fortunate to be in this position. Yet he also realizes his team never quit.
“Everyone stayed positive,” he said. “We grew. Hopefully we can learn from the mistakes we made earlier. ... We’re more battle-tested, so if we get into some of these close games down the stretch we can win some of them.
“I think the team is playing smarter right now. The penalties have gone down. The decision-making at the end of the game is better. I like the way we’re playing. But we still have a lot of work to do.”
He knows: You are what your record says you are. In the Chargers’ case, that includes consecutive losses to start the season that might have been averted if since departed rookie kicker YoungHoe Koo had converted on field goals in the waning seconds of regulation.
“When that happens, you look back at the games you were supposed to win,” Gates said. “Now that’s killing you.
“But these experiences have taught me a multitude of things. And one thing I’ve learned: You have to seize the moment; you can’t take an opportunity like this for granted.”