his decision to take over play-calling from offensive coordinator Davis Webb<\/a> was a prudent one. It should make for a fun matchup.<\/p>\n![\"Bo](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TDP-L-BRONCOS-CHARGERSAO5_5550x_4355f4.jpg\")
Bo Nix (10) of the Denver Broncos braces to take on Daiyan Henley (0) of the Los Angeles Chargers during the fourth quarter at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)
\nWho has the edge?<\/p>\n
When Broncos run:\u00a0This is a stoppable force vs. a movable object. The Broncos\u2019 rushing offense is one of the worst in football, and the Chargers\u2019 rushing defense is not far behind. Los Angeles has allowed multiple 100-yard rushers this year, including 81 yards to Seattle Seahawks third-string back Emanuel Wilson last week. Denver\u2019s J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey have not crossed the 50-yard mark so far this year. Don\u2019t expect the Broncos\u2019 ground game to suddenly explode, but they could be in for a stronger showing against the Chargers. Slight edge: Chargers<\/p>\n
When Broncos pass:\u00a0Bo Nix played the worst game of his season, and potentially the worst of his career, last week against the 49ers. He looked flustered, unconfident and unwilling to push the ball downfield. Nix has been known to rebound after bad outings in his career, and he\u2019ll get to face a Chargers defense that has allowed 211.8 passing yards per game. But the numbers are slightly deceiving. Los Angeles\u2019 secondary has actually fared relatively well against the pass. Harbaugh\u2019s team picked off Bills superstar Josh Allen twice and intercepted Seahawks Sam Darnold on Seattle\u2019s first drive . Slight edge: Broncos<\/p>\n
When Chargers run:\u00a0Experts pegged Omarion Hampton as a breakout candidate of the year after offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel arrived in Los Angeles this offseason. The sentiment was that Hampton, an extremely talented back, would be paired with one of the best run-game schemes in football. Instead, Hampton has not crossed 100 yards in a game this year and last week he only got nine carries against the Seahawks. Los Angeles\u2019 ground game is still potent, but this isn\u2019t the devastating group some thought it might be. Meanwhile, the Broncos\u2019 defensive line just had their best showing of the season against Christian McCaffrey and the 49ers. Slight Edge: Broncos<\/p>\n
When Chargers pass: Herbert looks completely lost in McDaniel\u2019s offense. The talent is still there, but Herbert has staggered to a dismal start. Herbert has taken 12 sacks and completed 71-of-119 passes (59.7% completion rate) for 816 yards. He\u2019s thrown four touchdowns to six interceptions. Oh, and the Chargers could be starting four rookie offensive linemen this week. The quarterback played better in the second half against the Seahawks, leading Los Angeles on three straight scoring drives. The Broncos will likely be without top corners Pat Surtain II and Riley Moss, which negates some of the advantage they would normally have. Still, Denver should win this matchup. Edge: Broncos<\/p>\n
Special Teams:\u00a0The Chargers have one of the best kickers in football in Cameron Dicker. Broncos fans will remember Dicker\u2019s half-ending kick in SoFi Stadium, but here\u2019s to Payton not letting that happen again. Jeremy Crawshaw has been excellent at flipping the field, while JK Scott is past his prime. Edge: Broncos<\/p>\n
Coaching: Harbaugh has held the advantage over Payton since he took the Los Angeles job. Both teams hired new offensive coordinators this offseason and neither has lived up to the lofty preseason expectations through four weeks. Denver has Vance Joseph, though, which is enough to give it a big advantage in this contest.\u00a0Edge: Broncos<\/p>\n
Tale of the tape<\/p>\n
Stat
\nBroncos
\nChargers<\/p>\n
Total offense
\n280.3 (27th)
\n306.8 (21st)<\/p>\n
Rush offense
\n81.3 (29th)
\n121.5 (9th)<\/p>\n
Pass offense
\n199 (20th)
\n185.3 (24th)<\/p>\n
Points per game
\n18.5 (27th)
\n16.8 (29th)<\/p>\n
Total defense
\n375.0 (28th)
\n333.5 (16th)<\/p>\n
Run defense
\n142.8 (29th)
\n121.8 (22nd)<\/p>\n
Pass defense
\n232.3 (21st)
\n211.8 (14th)<\/p>\n
Points allowed
\n23.5 (17th)
\n26.5 (24th)<\/p>\n
By the numbers<\/p>\n
4-6.\u00a0Herbert\u2019s touchdown-to-interception ratio through four weeks. Denver\u2019s defensive unit has said it wants to take the football away more. This week is a good chance to do that.<\/p>\n
55%.\u00a0The rate of pressure Herbert faced against the Seahawks, according to Next Gen Stats.<\/p>\n
0.\u00a0Number of first downs Denver has accumulated on its first drive of the game.<\/p>\n
-29.\u00a0Rush yards behind expected from Dobbins.<\/p>\n
X-factors
\n![\"Keaton](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2298946465.jpg\")
Keaton Mitchell #34 of the Los Angeles Chargers carries the ball against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field on October 04, 2026 in Seattle, Washington. (Photo by Steph Chambers\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Chargers: Keaton Mitchell.<\/p>\n
The first running back in this section, Mitchell played the most snaps of any running back in the Chargers\u2019 loss to the Seahawks. The elusive back has transferred over well to Los Angeles from Baltimore. Mitchell is a good receiving back, has home-run type speed and is fluid. If he continues to play over Hampton, watch for Herbert to look his way out of the backfield.<\/p>\n
Broncos: RJ Harvey.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It\u2019s debatable whether Harvey\u2019s target share benefits the Broncos\u2019 offense, but he\u2019s been the team\u2019s most productive pass-catcher recently. Harvey\u2019s getting more and more snaps and outplayed Dobbins last week.<\/p>\n
Post predictions<\/p>\n
Parker Gabriel, Broncos writer: Broncos 23, Chargers 13:<\/p>\n
The big news of the week is Sean Payton taking over the offensive play calling from Davis Webb. Another reality: The Chargers are a mess. They\u2019re the first bad team Denver\u2019s faced so far this season. The first four opponents on the Broncos\u2019 slate are 13-3 overall, which means 11-1 against teams other than Denver. If the Broncos can get out ahead early, they\u2019ll be in great shape. Plus, L.A. might start four rookies on the offensive line. Justin Herbert has been hit 50 times already this year. Nik Bonitto and Co. should be licking their chops.<\/p>\n
Sam Jane, Broncos writer: Broncos 24, Chargers 13.<\/p>\n
Look, last week was bad for the Broncos. No doubt. They lost their two top corners, leaving their DB room stretched to bare bones. But the Chargers give serious broken vibes. Things don\u2019t seem to be trending in the right direction, and 0-4 seems slightly past the point of return. Broncos don\u2019t roll here, but they do enough to take home their first comfortable win in a while.<\/p>\n
Troy Renck, columnist: Broncos 23, Chargers 19<\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 first goal every season is to win the AFC West. That dream will head south if they lose to the winless Chargers. The Chargers are desperate. No team has started 0-5 and made the playoffs. L.A. will look to run the ball down Denver\u2019s throat, while cleaning up an endless battery of penalties. With Sean Payton calling plays, the Broncos will look to start faster. Scoring a first-quarter touchdown will prove critical as the Broncos hold on late.<\/p>\n
Sean Keeler, columnist: Broncos 25, Chargers 20<\/p>\n
The Bolts\u2019 walking wounded seem to be the perfect foil, on paper, for a Broncos \u201cget-well\u201d weekend. Derwin James (hamstring, pinky) and Ladd McConkey (foot) are hobbling. Starting tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt are out. Chargers OC Mike McDaniel, Smoky Hill\u2019s finest, wishes he had Davis Webb\u2019s job right about now. But that\u2019s still Keaton Mitchell and Omarion Hampton running the ball. That\u2019s still Talanoa Hufanga missing tackles. The coach on the other sideline is still Jim Harbaugh. This is still the NFL, where winless teams can rise like zombie undead, bite you on the backside and infect your season. Mind you, if Sean Payton didn\u2019t want this game badly, he wouldn\u2019t have taken back his call sheet.<\/p>\n
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos at Chargers When: 2:05 p.m. Sunday Where:\u00a0SoFi Stadium TV:\u00a0CBS Radio: 850 AM, 94.1 FM Series: The two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1022804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2064],"tags":[1991,925,232,241,4124,48886,231,258,4919,19602,7,10576,601,2456,1012,1159,929,1014,262,2444,2443,4836,926,6,3267,1514,1032,5295,1813,9,3319,3189,2831,2832,1434],"class_list":["post-1022803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-chargers","tag-afc-west","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-chargers","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-davis-webb","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-derwin-james","tag-empower-field-at-mile-high","tag-football","tag-greg-penner","tag-j-k-dobbins","tag-jeremy-crawshaw","tag-jim-harbaugh","tag-justin-herbert","tag-latest-headlines","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleschargers","tag-mike-mcdaniel","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nfl","tag-pat-surtain-ii","tag-riley-moss","tag-rj-harvey","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-talanoa-hufanga","tag-the-denver-post","tag-troy-renck","tag-vance-joseph","tag-wilson"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Head](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2296303439_c7c628.jpg\")
Head coach Jim Harbaugh of the Los Angeles Chargers calls for a timeout during the fourth quarter of the game against the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium on September 20, 2026 in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Luke Hales\/Getty Images)