For Chargers, it’s a must-not-lose game

One-hundred and sixty-six days ago, the Chargers opened training camp with a rookie head coach and the typical fresh-start optimism, but no certainty where they’d end up.

On Sunday, they’ll play the last game of this NFL regular season before a national television audience in prime time to determine the league’s 14th and final playoff spot.

“These are the kind of games you wish you were playing this time of year, and we are,” edge rusher Joey Bosa said. “So it’s a great opportunity for both sides.”

The Chargers and Las Vegas Raiders meet at 5:20 p.m. at Allegiant Stadium, a building bearing the name of an airline, to determine whose season remains at cruising altitude.

In peak fashion for this quirky NFL season, there’s no guarantee entering Sunday that, in fact, it will be a solo flight into the playoffs.

As unlikely as it sounds — Indianapolis is favored by more than two touchdowns — if the Colts lose at Jacksonville, the Chargers and Raiders would both advance should their game end tied.

Regardless of any other outcomes Sunday, the Chargers advance with a victory or a tie.

So, this isn’t a must-win for the Chargers. It’s a must-notlose.

“We’re definitely built up for this moment,” safety Derwin James Jr. said. “But we can’t think too much about what we did in the past because we know the Raiders are coming out fighting for a playoff spot, too.”

The Chargers defeated the Raiders 28-14 on Oct. 4 at SoFi Stadium. Yet that game was so long ago Las Vegas has since changed head coaches and survived a few other developments that could have derailed its season. The Raiders have won three in a row.

Brandon Staley, who until 51 weeks ago had never been a head coach at any level, has his first team on the verge of making the postseason after the Chargers finished a combined 12-20 in the seasons before he was hired.

“I think that the more hopefully that we’re here we’ll have a lot of these types of games,” Staley said. “We’ve played in a lot of big games like this throughout this season, where it’s been prime time, only game in town, against a playoff-caliber team.”

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