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Each season, NFL teams play 16 regular season games. In terms of basic math, ti comes out to 6 division games, 5 non-division road games, and 5 non-divisional homes games.
Next season, AFC West teams are to be matched up primarily against the AFC South and NFC South in their non-divisional games. However, there's only 4 teams in each of those divisions, and we need 10 non-divisional games.
So, what the league does, is pick two other divisions within the conference and force each team in the AFC West to play their counterpart in these other divisions, based upon record. Next year, those "rotating divisions" or whatever you want to call them are the AFC North and East.
Here's how all of the Chargers opponents' line up for next season:
HOME GAMES:
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Oakland Raiders
- New Orleans Saints
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Tennessee Titans
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Miami Dolphins
ROAD GAMES:
- Denver Broncos
- Kansas City Chiefs
- Oakland Raiders
- Indianapolis Colts
- Houston Texans
- Atlanta Falcons
- Carolina Panthers
- Cleveland Browns
A last-place finish means a last-place schedule, and this schedule looks very favorable at the moment. However, there's no guarantee that the NFC South or AFC South will remain terrible next season, just like there's no guarantee that the Browns or Dolphins won't bounce back and contend for a division title. It's a crapshoot.