Well, all is right with the world: despite going an impressive 9-3 after starting the season losing 4 consecutive games, the Chargers will miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.
The Chargers became the laughingstock of the NFL after the team got off to that miserable 0-4 start, highlighted by rookie kicker Younghoe Koo missing two straight game-winning field goals. Poor Koo was promptly savaged by social media as a result, and his football career is likely already over. But that was just the beginning:
- Announcers, referees, commentators (mostly just Tony Romo), and even their head coach kept referring to them as the San Diego Chargers.
- Every single game at the StubHub Center was invaded by opposing fans, leading Keenan Allen to remark that every home game there felt like "a road game".
- In a Veterans Day tweet, a poor social media intern attempted to crop out the words "San Diego" from a picture, but inadvertently cropped out the veteran that had sent them the picture in the first place. This move even drew the ire of freakin' Brietbart, of all places.
- The team got DESTROYED by South Park.
- Rumors began to spread that the league was already considering moving the team back to San Diego.
- Joseph McRae- better known as the infamous SD Sign Guy- put up anti-Spanos air banners and billboards in LA to protest to move. The man essentially declared war on Dean Spanos- and donating 20 dollars to support his crusade was probably the best money I spent all year.
But despite essentially becoming the first NFL team without any fans, the Chargers rallied back from the brink to almost make the playoffs. They were in contention until the very last week of the season and in their final home game, despite being uniformly booed by the overwhelming majority of Raider Nation, they absolutely crushed Oakland, 30-10. But it didn't even matter- the Chargers still missed the playoffs to the Bills and Titans, of all teams. Sad!
The Chargers were bad enough to miss the playoffs, but good enough to miss out on a top draft pick-they'll be picking #17 overall- meaning they'll probably miss out on drafting LA favorites (and potential franchise-quarterbacks) Josh Rosen and Sam Darnold. They'll go into the offseason in as poor a position to improve themselves long-term as they’ve been in some time.
It truly is remarkable how much easier (and more enjoyable) it is to root against the Chargers- and if you're in that camp, the outcome of this season was about as favorable as it could have possibly been. But more important and impactful than the Chargers' on-field mediocrity was the fact that they firmly cemented themselves as national embarrassments.
Los Angeles is undoubtably a Rams and Raiders town- and it is clear that the Chargers' decision move there has been an abject failure.
Dean Spanos's decision to uproot the Chargers from their home and wage an unnecessary Fight for a town that didn't want him has solidified his legacy as a traitorous, pleonectic backstabber.
But as I said in the beginning: all is right with the world, for in the Fight For LA, the Chargers were knocked out before the first round even ended.
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