There are a couple ways to view this 9-7 season. I guess you could break it down to whether you’re an optimist or whether you’re a pessimist. You can view it as the team stuck together after a rough, winless first month of the season and finished the season 6-1. From an advanced stats standpoint, they were really freakin’ good.
Team Expected Points per game for the full regular season. X-axis is offense, y-axis is defense. Up and right are good. pic.twitter.com/NQn8dlgNLq
— Brian Burke (@bburkeESPN) January 2, 2018
Judging by that graph, the Chargers are easily one of the top 10 teams in the NFL. The Chargers had the 9th best point differential in the NFL at +83(for reference the Bills were -57 & the Titans were -22.)
On the other hand, you can look at it like a team that had ample opportunities to take care of business and simply failed to do so. They lost to the Broncos and the Dolphins, two of the worst teams in the conference. Their kicking situation was a joke. They had a chance to right the ship by beating the Jaguars. The defense intercepted Blake Bortles twice under two minutes and still lost. After a 4 game winning streak, the team still could control their own destiny. They walk into Arrowhead stadium and get manhandled by the Chiefs. They have only themselves to blame.
Poll
Was this a successful season?
So how do you look at the season? It was quite the roller-coaster ride. Would you consider this season a success? Based on the fact they won as many games this year as they won the last two years combined. Or is it a failure considering how many times they were afforded opportunities and shot themselves in the foot.