I've joined the chorus for years that the Chargers are overhyped and will never be as good as the talent on that team suggests it should be.

But I've left the chorus this year, perhaps to my peril. I just can't look at this Chargers roster and say "this team is going to flame out." I think they're a top 3 team in the NFL with the talent on this roster.

Honestly I felt they had a better squad than us last year, and we eked out a win from them by simply having the best players in the world make some of the best plays we've ever seen. Mahomes has done that a couple times to them. He has a bottomless magician's hat.

I just... I think this is the year it clicks for the Chargers. They have a great passrush, a great secondary, a great quarterback, great skill positions, and they're solid everywhere else (except linebacker). And I like Staley's coaching, though clearly it is not on Reid's level.

They have everything I think it takes to be an amazing football team and a Super Bowl contender (except experience). I simply can't look at all of these factors and say it's going to all collapse again for them somehow. It feels unreasonable to conclude that.

We also all believe in Mahomes, but the things you need to beat him are almost all there for the Chargers. The only thing they really lack to beat him are a clock-chewing run game, but they go for it on 4th so much they may be able to supplement that.

I want to stress that this is the Reid-Mahomes Chiefs, and even with my concerns, I love that duo so much they deserve a 50% expectation to reach the AFCCG.

And to add to that, I don't know how to feel about the Chargers in the playoffs yet. I think the Bills, Chiefs, and Bengals have that pedigree, but the Chargers haven't proven it yet. But they have everything you need to do a ton of damage in the regular season, including to us.

Real champions lose to the Texans when the playoffs are on the line at the end of the year

You can’t seriously be impressed with the Chargers coaching. Staley is the one that is holding them back. He single handily lost the game for the Chargers against us with his dumbass 4th down or bust mentality.

We kind of handed them the first game last year. 4 turnovers to none. And an ending that included a very questionable officiating decision that had a huge impct on the final result.

That being said, I agree that the Bolts have a legit team. The next 8 days go a long ways to how the West might play out. We need a good start at Arizona. And follow that up by defending home turf on Thursday night vs the Chargers.

It's been 14 years since the Chargers won the AFCW.

I do agree that the Chargers are very formidable on paper.

But they're starting the year without Jc Jackson apparently for 2 division games.

They could very easily be 0-2 by next Friday with 2 division losses.

I actually like that mentality -- I believe the sabermetrics favor it.

This is all fair. Fair points.

That Jackson loss would be huge if he's not good to go against KC.

It's really hard to understate how important that Thursday Night game is, which is even crazier considering how early in the season it is.

It doesn't matter what's going to happen, these teams are going to take a pound of flesh from each other. It's going to be a damn playoff game on Thursday Night in Week 2.

Man.

I mean, it's a big game, but in terms of season importance, I don't think it makes a whole huge deal.

Yeah, you wanna win at home etc. But you still get to go there and it's week 2.

Why I think the game is unusually important: I think winning that game puts the wind at the Chiefs' back as they face down an extremely difficult schedule. It gives them more margin for error, and of course gives you the opportunity to sweep them and force them to come to your house in January -- and we should assume we're going to see them in January.

Past seasons I didn't put a ton of worth on individual games with Mahomes because he's so damn good, you're going to make the playoffs no matter what, and soon as you're in, you're in as good a position as anyone no matter the seed.

I don't really think that's the case anymore now that the AFC has leveled up. Now it legitimately does matter who they play in that first round (assuming they don't get the 1 seed). You want an easy matchup there because you're going to have to play two of the Chargers/Bills/Bengals combo and it's going to be brutal. Get every advantage you can, it's not enough to simply get into the postseason to have the success you need.

We do this every year.

We have no clue who will be what at this point yet. An injury here, an underperformance there.

Like, are we sure the Bengals are making the playoffs this year? They had a flukey run last year and everyone wants to put them in this contender state. The Bills have been really good for a couple years. The defense is a bit older etc.

You just have no clue til the bullets start flying.

Give me the HOF coach and QB.

After 7 weeks last season, this team had a losing record. They were one play away from a 3rd straight SB appearance.

I do think that game could be a little "Chiefs Denver 2015" in that a loss could be a bit mentally detrimental.

I'd prefer not to have to go on some win streak like we did again, but yes, the first month or so, is more of a feel it out kind of thing IMO.