An AFC West rivalry renews Sunday afternoon — admittedly with low stakes — as the 10-6 Los Angeles Chargers are comfortable favorites at the 4-12 Las Vegas Raiders. The Chargers have secured a playoff bid, while the Raiders have played their way out of the No. 1 pick in this spring’s draft.
How to watch Chargers at Raiders
Los Angeles wholly remade itself in the first year of Jim Harbaugh’s tenure. The Chargers are a physical, grinding, risk-averse football team, with Justin Herbert at a league-best interception rate of 0.6 percent. The defense has held its opponent below 20 points in 11 of 16 games thus far, and five Chargers have tallied at least five sacks this season.
LA can become the AFC’s fifth seed with a win and a Steelers loss to the Bengals on Saturday. If Pittsburgh wins, the Chargers will be fastened to the No. 6 spot.
These Raiders haven’t been particularly competent in any phase. They’re 28th in scoring offense and 24th in scoring defense. Las Vegas has lost by at least two scores in eight of its dozen defeats. But in winning its last two games over the lowly Jaguars and Saints, the franchise has worsened its draft position — entering with the eighth spot on Tankathon’s Week 18 board.
Even against those two sputtering offenses and the last stage of the Kirk Cousins experiment in Atlanta, this Raiders defense has allowed just 13 points on average across its previous three efforts. First-year Raiders linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson has had four sacks since Thanksgiving weekend.
These two sides have split the last 20 head-to-head matchups.
Los Angeles Chargers vs. Las Vegas Raiders odds
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(Photo of Justin Herbert: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)