Week 14 rooting guide as Chargers hope for help in strengthening playoff position

Omarion Hampton is back. Justin Herbert (with screws in his non-throwing hand) is back. The Los Angeles Chargers‘ playoff chances are back … to the wall?

At 8-4 overall, 4-0 in the AFC West and an AFC-best 7-2 within the conference, the Bolts are nicely positioned for the season’s stretch run. Entering Week 14 they are the AFC’s No. 1 Wild Card team and could strengthen that position with a difficult double.

If they can find a way to beat last season’s two Super Bowl teams – the Philadelphia Eagles Monday night at SoFi Stadium and the Chiefs in Week 15 in Kansas City – the Chargers should find a way into the playoffs. They still, of course, have designs on catching the Denver Broncos for the division title.

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A win Monday night would be huge. Some help from other games Sunday would also help. A look at NFL games that could benefit the Chargers in Week 14:

Raiders over Broncos

As we witnessed last week, these days 2-10 Las Vegas is more concerned with hurting players than beating teams. A colossal upset, however, would throw the doors to the AFC West wide open.

Texans over Chiefs

Seems crazy to pull for a 7-5 Houston team that would strengthen its Wild Card position, but as Bolts fans know all too well it’s never absurd to root for Patrick Mahomes to be pushed farther out of the playoffs. With a loss the Chiefs would be 6-7 and all but out of postseason contention when the Chargers visit Arrowhead in Week 15.

Bengals over Bills

If the 8-4 Bills can’t overtake the New England Patriots to win the AFC East, they will be strong Wild Card contenders perhaps competing with the Chargers.

Colts over Jaguars

One will win the AFC South and the other will likely wind up fighting the Chargers for a Wild Card. Since that tiebreaker could come down to conference record, better for L.A. to have the Jags (5-2 in AFC) pick up another conference loss. The Colts are 6-3 in AFC.

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Steelers over Ravens

The winner takes the lead in the AFC North while the loser will plunge to 6-7 and likely three games behind the Wild Card leaders with four weeks to play. The Chargers already own the head-to-head tiebreaker over Pittsburgh.

Justin Herbert