Week 7 bye
While teams typically want their bye week to fall right in the middle of the season, the Chargers might be OK with a weekend off in late October given the schedule so far … and what lies after it.
The last time the Chargers had a Week 7 bye was during the 2021 season.
Post-bye gauntlet
The four games before the bye feature teams with Super Bowl aspirations … and the same can be said for the trio of games after the break.
The Bolts better rest up in Week 8 before they play the Rams on the road, the Texans at home and the Ravens on the road in primetime.
The daunting three-game stretch begins at SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers will be the road team in their home stadium.
Chris O’Leary’s unit will be tested against the likes of Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford.
On the flip side, Mike McDaniel and the offense better be ready in Week 8 for a home date versus Houston, as the Texans defense is stout at all levels.
The Chargers, of course, know this well after having seen the Texans twice in the past two seasons (including the playoffs).
Week 10, meanwhile, features the Chargers first primetime game of the season … and it’s a star-studded showdown on Monday Night Football.
Not only with the Bolts see Ravens Head Coach Jesse Minter, who spent the past two seasons as the Chargers Defensive Coordinator, but Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and Kyle Hamilton are just a few of the players waiting on Baltimore’s sideline.
Given the connections between these two franchises (especially in the front office), this figures to be one of the most anticipated games of the entire season.
3 primetime games
While the Chargers must wait until Week 10 for their first primetime game, they will be in the national spotlight plenty over the next six weeks.
The Ravens game is followed by two straight home games: the Jets in Week 11 before a Week 12 showdown with New England on Sunday Night Football.
The Chargers lost to the Patriots in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs in January and will surely be ready for a little payback.
The Bolts third primetime game comes in Week 15 when they host the 49ers on Thursday Night Football.
This mid-December battle between SoCal and NorCal should include a pair of teams vying for their respective division titles at this point of the season.
2 December trips to Florida
The Chargers have four cross-country trips on the docket this season.
Two of them — Buffalo in Week 3 and Baltimore in Week 10 — take place in the de-facto first half of the season.
That means the other two — against Tampa Bay and Miami — are later in the season.
Sure enough, the Chargers will play the Buccaneers on the road in Week 13 before a Week 16 game in Miami, the latter of which will be a reunion of sorts for McDaniel.
The Chargers rank seventh in the NFL in total miles traveled this season, but two of their longest trips of the season come in December.
It’s also worth noting that these December trips to Florida mean the Bolts won’t have many cold weather games on the slate.