Chargers Power Rankings Roundup: Bolts continue ascension after 2nd consecutive victory

The Chargers played their most complete game on Sunday in a 24-17 win over the Raiders. That may be odd to hear after the offense went missing in the second half, but the way the defense took advantage of a rookie quarterback for most of the evening helped balance a contest that featured 24 points in the first half.

A win prior to the bye this week put the Chargers back at 2-2 to help save what looked like a lost season after a 0-2 start. The Chargers will come back from their break to face a tough two-game stretch against the Cowboys and Chiefs before it lightens up with the Bears and Jets.

Their latest win has the Chargers rising back up the rankings as they’ve mostly escaped the bottom half of the league. With that said, let’s go ahead and take a look at where the Chargers landed after their second consecutive victory.

Yahoo Sports - #10

“Justin Herbert did not have a good game for his standards, but the Chargers defense stepped up amid key injuries.” - Frank Schwab

The Athletic - #11

“Head coach Brandon Staley has a spot on the coaching staff of our All-Chaos Team. In each of the last two weeks, Staley has attempted to preserve a late lead by going for it on fourth-and-1 deep in his own territory. In each of those weeks, the Chargers have failed to convert and won anyway. And, oh by the way, L.A.’s Khalil Mack had more sacks Sunday (six) than four teams have all season and added four quarterback hits to that against his former team.” - Josh Kendall

Bleacher Report - #12

“After a shaky start to the season, the Los Angeles Chargers are back to .500. And while Justin Herbert’s three touchdowns helped propel the Bolts, edge-rusher Khalil Mack was most responsible for the victory.”

“With Joey Bosa on the shelf, Mack had six sacks, setting a new Chargers record. He had the most sacks in a game against a former team since sacks became an official statistic in 1982.”

“It was an amazing performance, but while speaking to the media after the win, Mack didn’t want to talk about his huge outing—lest he jinx his next one.”

“‘We had time to get there,’ Mack said. ‘We had a young guy back there. He was thinking a lot, you could tell, and he made some mistakes, especially when it comes to ball security. I’m not going to talk too much. Y’all going to mess up my next game, and they’re going to chip me the whole time. So I’m not going to say nothing else.’”

“That next game won’t come for a couple weeks—the Chargers are on a bye in Week 5. But when they do return, the Bolts will find out exactly how good they really are—they host the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6 before heading to Kansas City to face the rival Chiefs in Week 7.” - BR NFL Staff

ESPN - #12

“No matter the quarterback or offense — from Tagovailoa to Tannehill — when teams have desired to beat the Chargers for deep passes, they’ve almost always been successful. The Chargers have allowed the most passing yards in the NFL (1,199). Sunday’s win over the Las Vegas Raiders was the first time the Chargers’ pass defense didn’t allow a completion of more than 20 yards — thanks to a rookie quarterback making his first start and six sacks from outside linebacker Khalil Mack. Still, for the Chargers to ever have a shot at contending in the AFC, the pass defense will need to solve this issue.” - Kris Rhim

NFL.com - #13

“The win over the Raiders was arguably the Chargers’ most complete performance, even if it came down to a wild sequence of events and included a failed fourth-and-short conversion attempt late in the game in their own territory. Points for creativity, boys. It’s also interesting that the defense has allowed fewer points with each game (although the Vikings did rack up 475 yards on them in Week 3). Khalil Mack did a lot of the damage, working against a rookie QB in his first start, but it’s progress nonetheless. Sunday was also arguably the Chargers’ worst offensive performance, with Justin Herbert’s finger injury surely playing a part. After a couple epic losses, the Chargers have settled in comfortably entering their Week 5 bye.” - Eric Edholm

Pro Football Talk - #14

“They keep going for fourth and one when they shouldn’t, not getting it, and still winning. So maybe they should keep going for it.” - Mike Florio

Sporting News - #15

“The Chargers didn’t “Charge” against the Vikings and Raiders, making the big defensive play in the end to preserve a stellar offensive-minded victory with Justin Herbert. Brandon Staley can feel much cooler.” - Vinnie Iyer

CBS Sports - #16

“They are 2-2 and the defense was much better against the Raiders. But when will Brandon Staley stop going for it in his own end? One day? He can’t this week since they are on their bye.” - Pete Prisco

USA Today - #22

“Two wins in a row is a nice – especially in spite of the analytics cheat sheet suggesting it was smart to sneak your franchise quarterback on fourth-and-short after he broke his finger or a defensive back giving himself up deep in his own end after an interception (with 2:33 to go) which he likely could have taken back for a 97-yard pick-six.” - Nate Davis