lt’s been a fantastic week thus far for the Los Angeles Chargers.

In the early-afternoon slate of games on Sunday, the Bolts upped their winning streak to four and improved to 11-4 on the season with a dominant 34-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. And in the late-afternoon slate, they watched the Denver Broncos fall to 12-3 with a 34-20 defeat at the hands of the AFC South-leading Jacksonville Jaguars.

As such, the Chargers now control their own destiny in the AFC West, as a win over the Houston Texans this Saturday and a win over the Broncos in Week 18 would give them their first division title since 2009.

And on Monday night, Los Angeles officially secured a playoff spot when the San Francisco 49ers took down Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts. So, again, it’s been a great holiday week thus far.

As we flip the focus to Week 17, here’s how the AFC playoff picture shakes out (*-clinched playoff spot).

Denver Broncos (12-3*, 1st AFC West)New England Patriots (12-3*, 1st AFC East)Jacksonville Jaguars (11-4*, 1st AFC South)Pittsburgh Steelers (9-6, 1st AFC North)Los Angeles Chargers (11-4*, 2nd AFC West)Buffalo Bills (11-4*, 2nd AFC East)Houston Texans (10-5, 2nd AFC South)Indianapolis Colts (8-7, 3rd AFC South)Baltimore Ravens (7-8, 2nd AFC North)

As you can see, the Bolts aren’t only in the mix for the AFC West but are also right in the thick of things for the No. 1 seed in the conference, which, of course, brings a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC portion of the postseason.

But even if Los Angeles doesn’t win the division, Jim Harbaugh & Co. would obviously like to maintain its current position as the top wild-card team in the AFC, as that slot could still allow the Bolts to host a playoff game depending on how the rest of the bracket plays out.

The most important for the Chargers, of course, is to take care of their own business on Saturday afternoon against a red-hot Texans team that boasts the top-ranked defense in the NFL and has won seven straight coming into this crucial matchup.

But Los Angeles will undoubtedly be keeping an eye on a few other Week 17 matchups, obviously starting on Christmas night.

4 games that matter the most to the Chargers:Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs

Naturally, the Chargers are hoping for the Broncos to lose their second straight, but that might be asking for a Christmas miracle. The Chiefs, of course, lost Patrick Mahomes to a torn ACL in their Week 15 defeat to the Chargers, but are now also without Gardner Minshew, who suffered the same injury this past Sunday in a loss to the Tennessee Titans.

As such, Kansas City will turn to little-known Chris Oladokun, who will be making just the third regular-season appearance of his career. The 2022 seventh-round pick made his second appearance this past Sunday in relief of Minshew and completed a respectable 11 of 16 passes for 111 yards. But Bolts fans should temper expectations, as, again, it would take a Christmas miracle for the Chiefs to win this football game.

Jacksonville Jaguars at Indianapolis Colts

The Chargers can do Philip Rivers and the Colts a huge favor on Saturday by beating the Texans, which would keep Indianapolis from being officially eliminated from postseason contention.

And it would be very nice of Rivers, who played extremely well in the loss to the Niners on Monday, to do the Bolts a favor by knocking off the Jags, as Los Angeles does need Jacksonville to lose at least once down the stretch to have a shot at the No. 1 seed.

New England Patriots at New York Jets

The Chargers also need the New England Patriots to lose at least once over these final two weeks to have a shot at the No. 1 seed, so they’ll certainly be rooting for the New York Jets to pull off an upset here.

Philadelphia Eagles at Buffalo Bills

As you saw above, the Chargers and Bills currently own the same 11-4 record, but Los Angeles gets the No. 5 spot due to having a better record in games against AFC opponents.

That would obviously remain the case if Los Angeles wins out, but just in case that doesn’t happen, having the Bills lose would obviously be beneficial.