If the Chargers defeat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday in Arlington, Texas, and if a set of dominoes falls in their favor, including a loss by an old friend on “Monday Night Football,” then they will have clinched an AFC playoff berth for the second time in Jim Harbaugh’s two seasons as their coach.
Big deal, you say.
Actually, it would be a very big deal for the Chargers.
You see, the Chargers haven’t advanced to the playoffs in consecutive seasons since qualifying four straight times ending with the 2009 season, when they were based in San Diego and finished the regular season with a 13-3 record and won their fourth consecutive AFC West title.
Norv Turner, Mike McCoy, Anthony Lynn, Brandon Staley and Giff Smith have coached the Chargers since their 2009 playoff run came to an end with a 17-14 loss to the New York Jets in the division round. The Chargers have made the playoffs only four times, winning just one postgame game, since 2009.
Winning on Sunday and defeating the Cowboys for their 11th victory of the season would set in motion a scenario in which the Chargers would qualify for the playoffs in consecutive seasons. They’ll need some help, though. Or they’ll have to wait until they play host to the Houston Texans on Dec. 27.
If they defeat Dallas on Sunday and the San Francisco 49ers defeat ex-Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers and the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night, then the Chargers will advance. Or they could advance if they beat the Cowboys and the Las Vegas Raiders defeat the Texans on Sunday.
There also are scenarios involving ties, but that’s a little too in the weeds.
A victory over the Cowboys was about all that was on the minds of the Chargers (10-4) as they prepared to face Dallas (6-7-1), a team that was all but eliminated from NFC playoff contention with a 34-26 loss Dec. 14 to the Minnesota Vikings on their home turf at AT&T Stadium.
“Win,” Harbaugh said this past week. “I know the scenarios are win and something else happens, you know? So, the big part of that is win.”
Harbaugh also acknowledged the challenge ahead, calling quarterback Dak Prescott and the Cowboys “arguably” the best offense the Chargers will have faced, and he said it after their defense subdued the past two Super Bowl teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, in back-to-back games.
“We know what the Dallas Cowboys’ offense has done so far this year and, yeah, man, it’s another challenge that we’re excited to go up against,” Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack said. “I don’t want to say we’re peaking at the right time. I want to say the work we’re putting in is showing up on Sundays.”
The Chargers have given up an average of 15.5 points per game during a three-game winning streak, holding down the Eagles in a 22-19 overtime victory and shutting out the Chiefs in the second half of a 16-13 victory in the past two weeks. How they did it was as impressive as the final results.
Mack and the Chargers’ defense pressured quarterbacks Jalen Hurts of the Eagles and Patrick Mahomes of the Chiefs, frustrating them and keeping them out of their comfort zones. They sacked Hurts once and intercepted him four times. They sacked Mahomes five times and intercepted him once.
Plus, the Chargers have played with a level of physicality more associated with Harbaugh’s teams at the University of Michigan. It got to the point that safety Tony Jefferson was ejected in the fourth quarter against the Chiefs after an especially hard tackle that leveled wide receiver Tyquan Thornton.
Old-school smashmouth football in the traditionally wide-open AFC West? You better believe it, the Chargers said this past week, and they’d get no argument from the Eagles or the Chiefs. In fact, some Kansas City fans took to social media to complain about their tactics, calling them dirty.
“A little different, I would say,” Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter said of their aggressiveness. “I thought it was a mindset game for us (against the Chiefs). … The guys have bought into the physicality, the mindset. That’s a team (Kansas City) that you have to go take the game from because they’ve made so many key plays and key moments over the years.”
CHARGERS (10-4) at COWBOYS (6-7-1)
When: 10 a.m. PT Sunday
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
TV/Radio: FOX (Ch. 11); 640 AM/94.3 FM (Spanish)