FanPost

How Much Will the San Diego Chargers’ Record Improve in 2009?

Hey Chargers fans! I have another post that I thought you would like. This one is a Chargers' season preview analyzing whether the 2009 schedule should be more or less difficult. Below is an excerpt.

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via 2.bp.blogspot.com

Last year, the San Diego Chargers got off to a very slow start, eventally becoming the only team in NFL history to start out 4-8 and make the playoffs. Many of their struggles stemmed from the loss of Shawn Merriman for the season and the suddenly below average rushing game due to LaDainian Tomlinson’s injuries in 2008. Because of their defensive struggles, they were unable to hold leads late in games. They lost a total of 6 games by 7 points or less. With LT and Merriman back, they are expected to have a significantly better record this year. But, how much better could it be?

Comparing their 2008 schedule with 2009, it appears that they are facing a somewhat easier schedule than they did last year. In 2009, the Chargers’ Strength of Schedule is ranked 17th, with a 0.484 winning percentage based on 2008 records. That is a little lower than the 0.516 winning percentage of their 2008 opponents. Of course, we won’t know the final SOS for this schedule until the end of the season, and teams change each year. At this point, however, it appears that the Chargers may face a less daunting task than one year ago, at least until the playoffs.

In this post, I wanted to break down the Chargers’ 2008 and 2009 schedules a little further to get a better understanding of what they are up against this season. Taking my raw data from Pro-Football-Reference.com, I have compiled the Offensive and Defensive rankings of the Chargers’ opponents from 2008 and 2009, broken out in the following 4 categories:

To read the rest, please click hear.

 

This FanPost was written by a member of the Bolts From The Blue community and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Bolts From The Blue editors or SB Nation.