My Philip Rivers Blog

The San Diego Chargers have had plenty of winning streaks around precisely this time in the seasons in the past. In fact, this is the fourth straight year that the Chargers have won four or more games in a row. Last year their final four wins stole the AFC West division title from the Broncos. The year before that they had six wins in a row, and in '06 they rushed past a 10-win streak into the playoffs.

But this year, the winning streak came after a period of real uncertainty. Just a month ago, the San Diego chargers were trailing the Broncos by 3½ games. Since then, the Charges have gone on to win five games in a row, completing an amazing month by this time pummeling the Broncos in Denver on Sunday with a 32-3 win, thus securing San Diego's sole number one spot atop the AFC West division. Quarterback Philip Rivers was definitely the star of the game, completing 17 out of 22 passes, a 77 % completion rate for a total of 145 yards.

Their Strengths

So what turned the tables around for the San Diego Chargers? For one thing, it seems like the team's pass rush strategy has finally started to work. In the first five games of the season, the Chargers only has seven sacks. In the last five games alone it has tallied up a grand total of 20 sacks. The running game too seems to be back. After struggling with it early in the season, they scored a record 203 yards in this past Sunday's game in Denver.

Another thing that has allowed the Chargers to perform as tightly and consistently as they're doing now is that, as linebacker Stephen Cooper put it, "Earlier in the year, we had a lot of guys hurt. Now our young guys are stepping up and playing like pros."

The Road Ahead

The next six weeks look pretty good for the Chargers, so yes, fans do have reason to cheer. Their team is 7-3 and has sole possession of AFC West Division's top spot. Their next opponent is the Kansas City Chiefs, who are currently hurting with a 3-7 season record, despite coming off a win against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The only two opponents that should really pose a threat to the Chargers are Dallas and Cincinnati, whom the Charges will be facing on week 14 and 15 respectively. But even if they lose these two games, they can still make it into the playoffs. And, though it might be delving into superstition, it might be worth noting that the Chargers have never lost a game in December under the coaching of Norv Turner.

What the Chargers need to now is basically continue doing what they've been doing. They're impressive five-win rally does not guarantee them anything, and their veteran leadership knows this. "It's not Week 17 of the season so we can't relax," said quarterback Philip Rivers. "We have to keep going strong because we can still keep getting better."

Fore more information on the San Diego Chargers, please visit http://www.sdnn.com/.