Finally, the Chargers seven game losing streak at “home” has been broken. Despite their temporary home at the StubHub Center being filled with the bright orange of Denver Broncos fans, the Chargers secured another victory and can now officially say they won their first game since being back in Los Angeles. Not only did the Chargers record their third consecutive win, they completely shut the broncos out, scoring 21 unanswered points.
The stand out players for this game were most definitely the defense. The Chargers were well aware going into this game that one of the Broncos biggest strengths is running the football. However, the Chargers were not having any of it this time. The defensive line did an impressive job containing the run, and ultimately kept the Broncos to just 65 rushing yards. They also forced three turnovers and sacked Denver quarterback Trevor Siemian five times. It is largely due to the defense that the offense had as much time on the field as they did.
Unfortunately, it does not matter if the defense gets the offense more time on the field if they do not do anything with it. Seven weeks into the season and it is clear that the offense is still struggling to find a good rhythm. This game demonstrated the continued lack of consistency in their running game, ending with just 80 rushing yards.
In a perfect world, the offense would be complementary to defense, but this was not the case for the Chargers this time. It would have been a good look for the Chargers to rack up a ton of rushing yards after the defense so aggressively blocked any chance of the Broncos gaining a significant number of yards on the ground. While the offense was a letdown for the most part, fans can still have hope in the Chargers offense thanks to the powerful and mostly accurate arm of Philip Rivers. Without Rivers’ Hall of Fame worthy skills, the Chargers would really be in trouble.
It is great that the Chargers are winning games, but this game is further confirmation that we need to see the offense and defense pull equal weight. To make it far and really be seen as a threat, one side of the ball cannot carry the team. Thumbs up to the defense, but the offense needs to get it together if they hope to have a chance of making it to the playoffs.
The Chargers deserve props because when you consider how their season began, who would have thought that they would be the ultimate puppet masters in their game against the Denver Broncos? This marked the first time since 2014 that the Chargers shut out a team. Coming into this season as underdogs, they still have a long way to go in order to win the war, but they are beginning to show all those who have doubted and turned their backs on them, that they do have what it takes to win some battles.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. The Chargers are not doing amazing, but they are performing better.
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