{"id":962869,"date":"2026-08-03T06:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/962869\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T06:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T06:27:10","slug":"chargers-named-playoff-bubble-team-entering-the-2026-nfl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/962869\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers named playoff bubble team entering the 2026 NFL season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Aug. 2, 2026, 7:56 p.m. PT<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The <a data-autotag=\"a419627d-6dfd-46c4-8ebe-6ca8a0506ea7\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/los-angeles-chargers\/357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Chargers<\/a> are expected to be a playoff team. After coming up short year after year, they have built a roster that could see them get over the hump.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">For many teams, things need to go right to be the last team standing, and the Chargers are no exception.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Anything short of a postseason berth for the Chargers will be underwhelming. <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25460060-ranking-every-nfl-teams-path-2026-playoffs\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Gagnon of Bleacher Report<\/a> evaluated every team&#8217;s path to the playoffs for the 2026 season and categorized the Chargers as a team &#8220;living on the bubble.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Jim Harbaugh has won 11 games in each of his first two seasons, and that offense could get a jolt from Mike McDaniel as well as the return to health of its two pillar tackles. That said, the Chiefs are still there and the <a data-autotag=\"80ecb2c2-c4e3-4c9a-8c53-01c0a2da3542\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/denver-broncos\/332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":b|e|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">Broncos<\/a> are an emerging juggernaut.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Gagnon ranked the Chargers 11th on the list, with much of it having to do with the Chiefs and Broncos fighting for the top spot in the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Expert NFL picks: <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-t-l=\":body nav (nfl)|e|auto spike click:5|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_sp_a\" href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/picks\">Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Last season, the Broncos snapped the Chiefs&#8217; streak of nine consecutive AFC West titles. The last time the Chargers won the AFC West was in 2009, going 13-3 that season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">If the Chargers want any shot at the division, they will need to reach 12 or 13 wins. Los Angeles has won 11 games in back-to-back seasons, finishing second in the division.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The Chargers haven&#8217;t hosted a playoff game in nearly two decades, but the roster they&#8217;ve assembled gives them a legitimate chance to change that this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">According to <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.betmgm.com\/en\/blog\/team\/los-angeles-chargers\/\" data-t-l=\":b|z|k|\u2691u\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BetMGM<\/a>, the Chargers playoff odds sit at -185. Their odds of winning the divison are at +185, second behind the Chiefs, who sit at +180.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">If the Chargers can win their first division title in 17 years, they&#8217;ll put themselves in a strong position to make a deep playoff run and potentially be the last team standing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Super Bowl LXI is scheduled for February 14, 2027 at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aug. 2, 2026, 7:56 p.m. PT The Chargers are expected to be a playoff team. After coming up&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":962870,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[95878,7,6,84,119277,97083,97084,95882,95887,95946,97216,95886,95942,97085,95895,95899,95883,95881],"class_list":["post-962869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl-playoffs","tag-accessfree","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-sourcechargers-wire","tag-sstssportsnflchargers","tag-sstsnchargers","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagamerican-football-conference","tag-tagcalifornia-gold-rush","tag-tagcgr-sports","tag-tagdenver-broncos","tag-tagjim-harbaugh","tag-taglos-angeles-chargers","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-neutral","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117030161162628624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962869","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=962869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/962869\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/962870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=962869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=962869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=962869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}