It was an interesting year for the San Diego Chargers. They finished the NFL regular season by winning their last four games, including the season finale over the Denver Broncos to get them a tie for first place at 8-8 but tiebreakers gave the Chargers the AFC West title. It was the third straight AFC West title which looked like impossible after week 10. San Diego was an underdog in the first round against the Colts but defeated Indianapolis 23-17 in overtime. The Steelers proved to be too much in the second round, beating the Chargers 35-24 and covering the 6.5 point spread.
It was the first time since 1985 that an 8-8 team won their division and the Chargers were also the first team in the NFL to make the playoffs after a 4-8 start. Against the spread, the Chargers were 7-8-1 which includes a 4-4 ATS record at home, 3-4-1 on the road, 5-8 ATS as a favorite and 2-0-1 as a betting underdog.
The Chargers are heavily favored at Bodog Sports Book to win the AFC West. Bodog has San Diego as 2/7 odds to win it all while Denver is 5/1, Kansas City at 8/1 and Oakland is 12/1. San Diego is 7/1 odds to win the AFC Championship and 12/1 to win the 2010 Super Bowl XLIV. The win total at most books varies between 9.5 and 10.
Norv Turner will almost certainly be on the hot seat if the Chargers fail to make the playoffs in a crazy AFC West. The Chargers do come with expectations to the 2009-2010 NFL season. They will be favored in their first three games including the Monday Night Football opener at the Oakland Coliseum. San Diego will be a 6.5 point favorite in the opener, followed by a 4.5 point favorite over Baltimore in week two and a touchdown favorite over the Miami Dolphins in week 3. Although they are favored in all three games, football insiders are saying 2-1 would be a good accomplishment. They go back on the road in week four when they will be an underdog against the defending Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers. The Chargers will finish the year with 3 of 5 on the road including games at Dallas and Tennessee.
A couple of betting trends that are hard to ignore is the Chargers are 11-1 L12 ATS against the Raiders and 5-0 ATS last 5 against Denver. Can the Chargers make it to the AFC Championship? Is Phillip Rivers going to have another monster fantasy football season? Discuss it in the CappersMall.com football forums.
| SAN DIEGO CHARGERS NFL SCHEDULE | ||||
| 8/15 | vs Seattle | 11/1 | vs Oakland | |
| 8/22 | at Arizona | 11/8 | at NY Giants | |
| 8/29 | at Atlanta | 11/15 | vs Philadelphia | |
| 9/4 | vs San Francisco | 11/22 | at Denver | |
| 9/14 | at Oakland | 11/29 | vs Kansas City | |
| 9/20 | vs Baltimore | 12/6 | at Cleveland | |
| 9/27 | vs Miami | 12/13 | at Dallas | |
| 10/4 | at Pittsburgh | 12/20 | vs Cincinnati | |
| 10/19 | vs Denver | 12/25 | at Tennessee | |
| 10/25 | at Kansas City | 1/3 | vs Washington | |
