The 62 year history of the Los Angeles then San Diego and then L.A. again Chargers isn’t exactly illustrious. While they do have 15 division championships and 19 playoff appearances, they have zero Super Bowl titles, only one appearance, and it came almost three decades ago.
They have one championship, but it’s from way back in the AFL days, prior to the National Football League merger. However, 2021 might be the time to buy in; on all levels.
They’re really building something special in Inglewood, California, with head coach Brandon Staley and second year quarterback Justin Herbert leading the way.
They have the best uniforms in all of sports, with the powder blue color scheme. They’re extremely fun to watch, in the vein of the Air Coryell teams of a half-century ago.
Currently 4-2 and tied with the very embattled Las Vegas Raiders atop the AFC West, they really put on a great show whenever they play. Maybe you saw the thrilling 47-42 win over the Cleveland Browns?
Or the 28-14 Monday night thriller over the Raiders, which was absolutely critical to their division title hopes. Or maybe you caught their six point win over the reigning oligarchs of the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs. As did the Raiders. Don’t be shocked if something like this happens again down the line.
But for now Justin Herbert and the Chargers provide the league with a fun and exciting to watch team, something they’re going to need now that the G.O.A.T. Tom Brady has hung up his cleats. Now the NFL is going to need a new signature star, could Justin Herbert develop into that?
He has all the tools, provided the Chargers build a bigger and better supporting cast around him.
While the Rams are favored to win the Super Bowl this weekend, it would be even better for the league to have a second successful team in L.A. the nation’s third largest market. The NFL is the strongest form of programming on television, but they’ll need new star power in order to stay there.
Linear viewership has been on the decline during the past few years but the draw of the NFL was strong enough to slightly reverse that trend in Q4 2021.
Cole Strain, VP, Measurement Products at Samba TV said:
โLinear has always been dependent on news and sports to maintain viewership and, this Q4, the NFL was the clear saving grace for traditional TV. For the first time in almost two years, we saw an uptick in linear that was entirely attributable to NFL fans.ย
Every single one of the top television programs in Q4 were NFL games.
As live sports continues to move to hybrid streaming models, however, this is likely the last time we will see sports saving the day for legacy linear viewership”
We’re maybe at this point now, and certainly will get there in the future- people will really only want to watch their own teams.
You’re going to need players and teams that all NFL fans are interested in- maybe Justin Herbert and the Chargers can be that?
Like Bob Costas famously said “at a time when everything is in niches, the NFL cuts across all boundaries.”
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of โTransatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,โ as well as โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.โ
He has regularly appeared in WGN,ย Sports Illustratedย and theย Chicago Tribune,ย and co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast.ย Follow himย onย Twitterย andย Instagram.ย
