Chargers clinched a playoff berth<\/a> this week but are looking for more than a wild-card spot. If they win Saturday, the AFC West title \u2014 and at least one more game at SoFi Stadium \u2014 is within reach. Even the AFC\u2019s No. 1 seed is in play.<\/p>\nHow the Texans can win: Houston\u2019s defense can hold up against the run and has the secondary to challenge Herbert, but the Texans offense has been one of the league\u2019s worst in the red zone. The Texans need to convert those opportunities into touchdowns. C.J. Stroud is at his best throwing between the numbers when protection holds, although he has a suspect offensive line, and the Texans will lean on short passes to compensate for a shaky running game. Forcing a turnover or two is critical. Houston thrives when it shortens the field and avoids asking the offense to sustain long drives. Field goals alone won\u2019t be enough.<\/p>\n
How the Chargers can win: Control the game with balance and patience. Houston\u2019s defense is opportunistic and excellent at forcing turnovers, but it can be stressed if Herbert has time and the Chargers stay committed to the run. That won\u2019t be easy if Kimani Vidal is out. Even modest success on the ground forces the Texans to respect play-action fakes and opens throwing lanes, particularly over the middle. Herbert\u2019s ability to escape pressure and run, especially up the middle against man coverage, could be a hidden weapon late. If the Chargers protect the ball and finish drives instead of settling for field goals, they can keep Houston from dictating the tempo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> The Chargers have never won five in a row under coach Jim Harbaugh, but they have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[4451,43831,1535,11155,6308,423,6666,17180,1544,1542,11489,48,52,51,47,50,49,58299,18158,11598,315],"class_list":["post-109446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ankle","tag-calf","tag-chargers","tag-defense","tag-field","tag-game","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-justin-herbert","tag-kimani-vidal","tag-knee","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-middle","tag-no","tag-texans","tag-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}