Chargers vs. Raiders
San Diego -9 vs. Oakland
The San Diego Chargers' season just does not seem to be getting any better. Most pundits thought that the core of the Chargers was aging and that their last best chance at a championship would be this season and now it does not even look like they will make the playoffs. San Diego (4-8) has lost three straight and six of the last eight. Now they will play host to the Oakland Raiders at home, who always seem to bring a rowdy crowd of Raidernation in with them to San Diego. Being booed at home is probably not what the Chargers need right now. The AFC West teams meet up in Qualcomm Stadium Thursday night.
San Diego will try to avoid clinching their first losing season in five years and their first loss to Oakland in that same amount of time. The Chargers still have a slim chance at reaching the playoffs. Their hopes are firmly resting on Denver freefalling within the division, but if the Broncos dominating performance on the road against a surging Jets team is any indication, this does not seem likely. It will be all for naught if the Chargers lose and the Broncos beat Kansas City. With that scenario, Denver will clinch the division with three games left to play.
Simply put San Diego must win out and Denver must not win more than one of their remaining games for the Chargers to have a shot. Those two teams play in the last game of the season.
Oakland (3-9) may be hopeful that San Diego will have their eyes in the offseason because of their long-shot postseason chances. They need something to hold on to as they have dropped 10 straight games to San Diego and only one of the last seven losses have been decided by less than 10 points.
Both teams come in after home losses, San Diego to Atlanta and Oakland to Kansas City. The Chargers won the first meeting between the divisional rivals this season, 28-18, on September 28.
A victory Thursday would give the Chargers the longest winning streak of any team in the 48-year old series. The Raiders won 10 straight from 1972-77 during their glory years. A loss for the Oakland Raiders would put them in the illustrious company with Tampa Bay (1983-94) and Detroit (2001-06) as they only organizations to suffer 10 or more losses in six consecutive seasons.
