They may play in one of the weaker divisions in football, but if the Chargers can’t figure out a way to win on the road then they’re going to be at home come playoff time.
Thanks to their 20-17 loss to the Rams on Sunday, the Bolts have now dropped all four of their road games to start the season, including two in a row. And it’s not like they’ve been playing the ’85 Bears, the ’07 Patriots and the ’00 Ravens either. Their losses have come against the Chiefs, Seahawks, Raiders and Rams, which are four teams San Diego should beat if it considers itself a legit playoff contender.
One of the main problems that the Chargers have had is that they don’t match their opponent’s intensity in the first half. Philip Rivers and the offense really struggled in the first half in St. Louis before finally coming alive in the final two quarters. But by that time, they were already down 17-3 and had to abandon the running game. They’ve followed that same script in nearly every one of their road games this season and now they’re 0-4 away from their home digs.
The Rams, on the other hand, look like a freaking juggernaut at home, where they’re now 3-1 on the year. Sam Bradford completed 18-of-31 passes for 198 yards with a touchdown and for the first time all season, he wasn’t intercepted. (Although there were a couple of instances where he could’ve been.)
Bradford did most of his damage in the first half when he led the Rams to a 17-3 lead. But the playcalling was completely unimaginative in the second half and his offense became stagnant. Still, St. Louis hung onto the win and now the rookie QB is averaging 226 yards per game with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions.
More importantly, thanks to the division they play in, the Rams are hanging around in the NFC West. It’s still early, but nobody expected this team to have three wins at this point in the year and they’ve already exceeded expectations. Now they just have to figure out a way to win away from the Edward Jones Dome.
