Each NFL season is filled with change and surprise teams, but the tough part is finding out who those will be.
ESPN's Bill Barnwell tried to take his chance on predicting who will fill the playoff field in 2024, identifying six new teams that will make the postseason this year.
The Bolts were among Barnwell's playoff squads for 2024.
Barnwell laid out the case for the Chargers, including adding why things are trending in a positive direction since the end of last season.
Barnwell wrote:
The Chargers certainly don't seem like a playoff team right now. They're coming off an ugly 5-12 season that saw them fall to last place in the AFC West…
Look a little closer, though, and things aren't as bleak. The Chargers had the point differential of a seven-win team and finished 19th in DVOA. Allen was the only one of their three playmakers to play well while staying mostly healthy last season, and even he missed four games. They have made additions, but they just aren't as sexy: Rookie right tackle Joe Alt has looked like a home run in preseason, giving them the ability to protect franchise quarterback Justin Herbert with what might be one of the best one-two tackle punches in the league.
The Chargers have a 44.8 percent chance to make the playoffs, according to ESPN's Football Power Index.
Even with all the points Barnwell made, the biggest reason he thinks the Bolts will be playoff bound is because of Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh, who is days away from his coaching return to the NFL.
Barnwell wrote:
The biggest addition, though, is at head coach. Jim Harbaugh has a track record of turning teams around quicker than anybody expected. In San Francisco from 2011 to 2014, he took over a team that hadn't posted a winning record in eight seasons and whose quarterback, Alex Smith, had said he couldn't envision rejoining the team after hitting free agency. Harbaugh brought back Smith, turned his career around and took the 49ers to 13-3 and the NFC Championship Game in his first season. After that, he took over a five-win Michigan team in 2015 and immediately doubled its win total in his return to Ann Arbor.
It may not look like it now, but he believes the Bolts will be the most surprising team playing when January rolls around.
Barnwell wrote:
I would be skeptical of Harbaugh taking the Chargers on a deep playoff run in his first season, especially with the Chiefs in the same division, but this is the sort of formula we typically don't see coming until it's too late. A team that wasn't as bad as it seemed last season stops being quite as unlucky. A major addition at one of the few positions that really moves the needle changes their fortunes and makes multiple players look better. They already have standouts at several of the most important positions in football in Herbert, Alt, Bosa, offensive tackle Rashawn Slater and pass-rusher Khalil Mack. Adding Harbaugh doesn't complete the set, but it should make them 2024's most surprising playoff team.
To read Barnwell's full predictions, click here.
