{"id":219330,"date":"2025-07-19T11:39:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T11:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/219330\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T11:39:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T11:39:17","slug":"chargers-raiders-week-18-game-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/219330\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers Raiders Week 18 Game Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chargers are 10-6 and in the playoffs as they head to Las Vegas<\/a> for the regular-season finale.<\/p>\n

Kickoff from Allegiant Stadium is at 1:25 p.m. (PT).<\/p>\n

The Bolts are 4.5-point favorites<\/a> over the Raiders, with the over\/under at 40 points.<\/p>\n

Here are five final thoughts ahead of Week 18:<\/p>\n

Welcome to the regular-season finale.<\/p>\n

The Chargers wrap up their 2024 season on the road but will also have their eyes on playoff seeding, too.<\/p>\n

Here are the scenarios for the Bolts, who are currently in the No. 6 spot<\/a> ahead of Week 18.<\/p>\n

If the Steelers lose Saturday night, the Chargers could then claim the No. 5 seed with a win against the Raiders. If that happens, the Bolts would play the Texans in the Wild Card Round.<\/p>\n

However, a Pittsburgh win Saturday night against Cincinnati would lock the Bolts into the No. 6 spot, which means a date with the third seed and AFC North winner.<\/p>\n

You can bet the Bolts will be paying close attention to what happens in the Steel City.<\/p>\n

Chargers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman said this week that it’s beneficial the Chargers will know where they stand roughly 17 hours before kickoff Sunday.<\/p>\n

“It’s unbelievable. It’s unreal,” Roman said. “Once we’re done with our meetings, it will probably be halftime or thereabouts [in the Steelers game]. It’s just an unbelievable set up, in my mind at least, that we can have that indication ahead of time.”<\/p>\n

Roman later added: “We’re going to add to the viewership.”<\/p>\n

However, with so much unknown heading into Saturday night, Chargers players and coaches have been full steam ahead getting ready for Week 18.<\/p>\n

“We’re doing everything we can to win this game,” Justin Herbert said. “I think that’s the main focus and we can’t let anything pull away from our level of preparation and our focus.<\/p>\n

“We’ll do a great job of watching the Raiders film and do everything we can to be prepared for them,” Herbert added. “They’re a good football team, much better than the record indicates.”<\/p>\n

Chargers Defensive Coordinator Jesse Minter added: “We want to play well in this game and carry momentum into the next game.”<\/p>\n

No matter what happens this weekend, we know Jim Harbaugh’s squad will be playing next weekend, too.<\/p>\n

But there is still much to be determined over the next 48 hours or so.<\/p>\n

“Our coaches said it best: don’t allow anyone else to determine our destiny,” Cam Hart said. “What that meant for me is use this game as a game to propel, as a game to catch speed, catch camaraderie, catch this togetherness and chemistry.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, this is my first playoffs [coming up], and I think momentum is a big thing in sports and in general,” Hart added. “I think you use this game to do what we have to do, similar to last week, catch that momentum and catch that chemistry and catch that camaraderie. I think that will propel us into this week and into the playoffs.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chargers are 10-6 and in the playoffs as they head to Las Vegas for the regular-season finale.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":219331,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[37712,37,3460,7,34,38,1744,393,2455,2454,38552,6,525],"class_list":{"0":"post-219330","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-2024-reg-18-editorial","9":"tag-app-homepage","10":"tag-articles-5-takeaways","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-homepage-cp","13":"tag-homepage-headlines","14":"tag-las-vegas","15":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","16":"tag-lasvegas","17":"tag-lasvegasraiders","18":"tag-los-angeles-chargers-at-las-vegas-raiders-2024-reg-18","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114879710425648680","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219330","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=219330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219330\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}