After three weeks of regular season play in the National Football League you know the Los Angeles Chargers must have thought this was going to be their season. Despite losing one of the best offensive linemen in the game for the season in early August when left tackle Rashawn Slater was injured, the Chargers opened the regular season with a win over the team that has won their division nine straight seasons, the Kansas City Chiefs.
Jim Harbaugh’s team won a second straight game in Week Two against the Las Vegas Raiders and then got the benefit of a two-game bulge over Patrick Mahomes and company when the Chiefs lost at home to the Philadelphia Eagles. If the Chiefs are out of the race two games back in the AFC West cellar, and the Chargers tacked on a third straight win over the Denver Broncos, which means three games into the season the Chargers have a two game lead over everyone in their division and have already pinned all their division opponents with a loss, confidence was hitting a high.
It appeared clear sailing for the team from Southern California.
Then reality set in. The Chargers lost another key player to injury, linebacker Khalil Mack, and a pair of games to the New York Giants and Washington Commanders. Last week, with their division rivals closing in on them in the AFC West race, the Chargers needed a last second field goal to slip by the one-win Miami Dolphins.
How is that confidence level for Harbaugh’s men now?
Not too high.