Chief Challengers: Chargers
The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner
The Chargers and the Broncos have identical odds to win the AFC and the Super Bowl. They also have the same win total over/under. The Chargers have very slightly worse odds to win the division, so that puts them in third place in the AFC West, and thus, I will be writing about them this week, and the Broncos next week.
The Chargers have been declared the AFC West champions in just about every offseason I can remember. This offseason crowning of the Chargers has only intensified every year since Justin Herbert burst onto the scene in 2020, after the team doctor accidentally punctured the lung of Tyrod Taylor, the starting quarterback, while administering a pain killing injection.
I mention the punctured lung incident because the Chargers are also very well known for “Chargering”. They seem to have random strikes of bad luck at exactly the wrong time, consistently. Weird flukes in game to lose games, bizarre injuries like the above, they just seem to manage to have the wrong thing happen at exactly the wrong time. It is honestly impressive in its consistency. They are usually a great team on paper, and they often look the part during games, but it just never quite seems to all come together.
