Yes, we know. The Rams just had another all-in offseason, with the reigning NFL MVP in Matthew Stafford, the acquisition of the best pass rusher available in Myles Garrett and the possibility that future Hall of Famer Aaron Donald will come out of retirement, making them the consensus pick to play in, and win, the Super Bowl on their home turf next Feb. 14.
But stay with me here: What if SoFi Stadium’s other home team crashes the party as well?
Forget history for the moment. Forget the Urban Dictionary definition of Chargering, and the 12-21 playoff record in the franchise’s previous 66 seasons, and particularly the wild card round flameouts in three of the past four.
Why not the Los Angeles Chargers against the Los Angeles Rams in the final game of the 2026 NFL season? They’ll already meet in the final game of the preseason, a Chargers home game on Aug. 27, and a designated Rams home game on Nov. 1 in Week 8.
The original concept of the Super Bowl was a neutral field, right? What could be more neutral than both teams using their regular locker rooms and standing on their regular sidelines, after spending the week of wretched excess leading up to the game training in their own facilities and sleeping in their own beds?
And the idea that the rest of the country would hate it? All the more reason to root for it.
Indeed, this could be the best chance we ever have for an all-SoCal championship round in one of the major sports.
The Angels currently are light years away from ever meeting the Dodgers in a Freeway World Series. And while we truly are the Noah’s Ark of sports – two of everything – the only playoff confrontations we’ve ever had between local teams were two Galaxy losses to LAFC in Major League Soccer conference semifinals (2019 and ’22), a Galaxy victory over the late Chivas USA in the 2009 conference semis, and a seven-game war between the Kings and Ducks in the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs.
(That last one, a Western Conference semifinal, went to a Game 7 at Honda Center that burnished Justin Williams’ nickname of “Mr. Game 7,” and also turned out to be Teemu Selanne’s last game. But the two following series, Kings-Chicago in the conference final and Kings-Rangers in the Stanley Cup Final, were more memorable.)
As for a Lakers-Clippers playoff series? I’ll believe it when I see it.
So Rams-Chargers for the Lombardi Trophy could be as close as we get. And is it really that much of a longshot?
The Rams are prohibitive favorites to get there and to win it, +550 according to odds posted by Draft Kings and +500 according to the FanDuel sportsbook. The Chargers, listed at 17-1 both places, are part of the third tier of contenders, with Baltimore, Buffalo and defending champ Seattle making up the second tier and New England, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Houston and Green Bay also part of what could be considered the NFL’s mushy middle.
But consider: The AFC is relatively wide open as opposed to previous seasons. If the Chargers can keep their offensive line reasonably healthy and keep quarterback Justin Herbert upright, the offensive pieces are there.
They couldn’t (a) stay healthy or (b) protect him in 2025, and the resulting breakdown in the wild card loss to the Patriots probably shouldn’t have been a surprise. (The absence of left tackle Rashawn Slater from practice for four straight days this week, after he missed all of 2025 with a torn patellar tendon, raised some familiar red flags.)
New offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, the former Miami Dolphins head coach and Herbert’s fifth OC in seven NFL seasons, tried something different this spring during organized team activities. In addition to tweaking Herbert’s footwork and emphasizing a quicker release – among other things, having him work with a plyo ball – he put the quarterback on a pitch count.
“The way that we can ensure that his game is built to be its best when its best is required (is) to throw early in training camp, but to have his strongest version of himself down the stretch of the season in December and January,” McDaniel said then. “We just kind of took the old formula out, tore it up and and approached it with a different focus.
“You want to talk about a way to make a quarterback focus on footwork, don’t allow them to throw a football. Because a lot of times, you can say until you’re blue in the face, ‘I don’t care where the ball location is right now, we need to work on this.’ (But) natural competitors can get in their own way. … (It’s a) very calculated, very deliberate intentional process that we’ve taken to this off season.”
McDaniel, who had Tua Tagovailoa in Miami, said that as soon as he took this job, “before I even knew where the bathroom was,” he was watching video of every pass Herbert had thrown as a pro, and that led to the idea that less might be better.
“Justin in midseason form – April, May, June – is the way we’ve done it, hundreds of balls per practice,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “So we’re going to try it a different way this year. I think it’s smarter.”
The goal, Herbert said this week, is “to go out there and play fast, react and go out there and attack.”
In his first six NFL seasons, Herbert has thrown for 24,820 yards – with career highs of 5,014 yards and 38 touchdowns in his second season, 2021. His teams have finished with double-digit victories in three of his six seasons. But there has always been a sense that there’s more there to be tapped.
If McDaniel, who carries kind of a mad professor vibe, can unlock the best of Herbert, that’s a big first step.
And if the rest of the pieces fall into place, Valentine’s Day in Inglewood could be one of the more unforgettable days in the most diverse sports market on this planet.
jalexander@scng.com