2008 San Diego Chargers - The Window Might Be Closing

On Sunday, in Pittsburgh, the Chargers saw a fourth-quarter lead erased by an opponent’s score in the final 30 seconds of a game for the third time this season.

After the Chargers grabbed a 10-8 lead in their Week 11 contest at Pittsburgh, the Steelers drove the length of the field and set up a 32-yard field goal that allowed Ben Roethlisberger and company to escape with an 11-10 victory in the snow.

Sure, there was a questionable call that screwed up the point spread for degenerate gamblers across the world, but all in all, it was just another typical Sunday for Charger fans in this fall of 2008. 

Before the game the 1pm game, I found myself watching the Denver Broncos beating the Atlanta Falcons on the road in a close game.  It made me wonder about the orange and blue team that is beating the Chargers for the lead in the division.  The AFC West is easily the worst, and hardest to comprehend, division in the conference (I guess any division involving Al Davis wins that title), but the Broncos seem to be winning while being perceived as being a bad team.  It seems like nationally, people can’t figure out why the Broncos can be winning and they can’t figure out why the Chargers are losing.  The reason for this is simple:  LaDainian Tomlinson is almost thirty, doesn’t have his All Pro fullback, Lorenzo Neal, blocking for him, and the 2008 Chargers’ Offensive Line is best described as, well, a 4-6 outfit.  The Chargers’ defense looks like it is getting itself together, but the offensive is lacking those 40-yard runs from LT that have become expected over the years. 

With three games in a row at home coming up, the Chargers’ 2008 season is in the hands of the players on the field.  Despite the media’s confusion over why Denver is winning and why the Chargers are losing, the teams and players around the league outside of the division are not taking the Broncos lightly, and are definitely not afraid of going into Qualcomm and slapping the Bolts in the face with a reality that suggests this recent run of high level talent on verge of greatness is over.

If the Chargers win the next three games, they have a shot.  If they lose, the window for winning a championship could be closed for a very long time.