The Chargers will play postseason football on Saturday.

And when the Bolts and Texans kick off in Houston, everything is in front of the Chargers as they look to make a deep playoff run.

But to understand what this Wild Card game means to the Chargers, you have to take a glance back over the past year at the journey this roster took to get here.

The 2024 edition of the Chargers look vastly different than they did a calendar year ago.

Pieces — whether free agents or rookies — were added to an already existent roster, with Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz and Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh navigating the puzzle to make everything fit seamlessly together.

"Man, it was like a beautiful concoction, a beautiful stew that you cook up," Khalil Mack said.

Even as far back as April, when the Bolts first gathered for the voluntary offseason program, there were hints that something unique was on the horizon.

"Early on in OTAs, you get everyone together and you kind of establish that goal of what you want to set the team out to be," Justin Herbert said. "Everyone has been on the same page and I think that locker room is a special group of guys the way they care for each other, play for each other, play for the staff.

"It didn't take long to see this would be a special unit," Herbert added.

Rashawn Slater said: "It was clear from the start. From the very beginning, we've been very definitive with our goals and expectations. When you have that, you're kind of setting the course for yourself. As long as you stick to it, you have a really good opportunity. That's exactly what we did from the beginning."

Derwin James, Jr. added: "I already knew."

With the Wild Card Round on deck, here's an inside look at how the Chargers roster meshed together and reached the playoffs.

'We were pissed'

They were hungry. Embarrassed. And willing to do anything to make sure last season never happened again.

For the core collection of Chargers stars on this team — a group that includes Herbert, Mack, James, Slater and Joey Bosa — they showed up in April ready to work toward a fresh start.

James recently recalled a conversation he had shortly after the 2023 season — a year that included front office changes and a 5-12 record.

"We were pissed," James said. "We had five wins, our season was ending but we ultimately knew where we needed to be.

"I remember talking to Justin about it, we just wanted to work and do everything we could to change that," James added. "The job is not finished [now] but this is definitely a better feeling."

James responded to 2023 with his best showing in years, showing up each week as a force all over the field as he once again regained the mantle of one of the league's top safeties.

Herbert's leadership was on display all season long, too. Despite dealing with numerous injuries, he gutted through it to produce 11 wins and a stellar season.

Slater earned Pro Bowl honors and could soon be in line for All-Pro accolades. Simply put, he was one of the league's most consistent and dependable offensive linemen.

The Chargers left tackle recently said he was simply among the many players from the 2023 roster who returned with a vengeance this season.

"Losing sucks. Everyone knows that. We never want to do that again," Slater said. "That definitely lit a fire under our ass because you don't want to lose in this league."

Even someone such as linebacker Daiyan Henley, who played minimal defensive snaps as a rookie, wanted to help others get the bad taste out of their mouths.

"I put my all in to not have my teammates feel that feeling again," Henley said. "That's where I've been mentally throughout this whole season. Like, I've got to put my best foot forward for the guys next to me, for the guys who had to endure the season last year."

Then there's Mack and Bosa, who both fall into a special category by themselves.

The pair of decorated edge rushers each restructured their contracts this offseason to remain with the Bolts, giving up millions of dollars for the chance to hopefully make a playoff run.

"I don't know if I can think of anything that meant more," Harbaugh said. "I felt that at the time. Khalil and Joey both wanted to come back and did come back. I was pretty sure it was huge then. Looking back, I'd say it meant more."

More than nine months later, their vision has come to fruition.

"I've been a Charger my whole life and didn't really want that to change," Bosa said.

He later added: "[Khalil and I] were enjoying the years together and didn't want that to end on a bad note."

Mack said this spring that when evaluating his options this offseason, he knew in both his heart and his mind that the Chargers were closer to a playoff team than the five-win squad from a year ago.

The future Hall of Famer recently laughed during a conversation at his locker about just how correct he turned out to be.

"It all played in my head," Mack said. "I heard Coach Harbaugh was getting hired, Coach Minter was coming and all the guys he was hiring.

"Even [quarterbacks coach] Shane Day getting hired, that is Justin's guy," Mack said. "Everything all meshed together at the right time. I don't want to say I'm a GM or a scout, but it all mixed in pretty well."

This group of franchise players certainly did their part to help the Bolts reach the playoffs in 2024.

Herbert (91.7) and Slater (91.1) posted the two best Pro Football Focus offense grades on the roster. On the defensive side, Mack (90.4) and James (80.5) were first and third, respectively, in PFF grades for that unit.

But the group had some help, too, in the form of other veterans looking for a new home to thrive in.

'There's nothing guaranteed'

They each had plenty to prove.

Poona Ford was effectively benched during the latter part of the 2023 season in Buffalo.

Kristian Fulton was cast aside by the Titans.

Bradley Bozeman was released midway through his contract.

And Troy Dye was ready to show he could be a solid contributor somewhere other than Minnesota.

The Chargers didn't have a ton of cap space during the 2023 offseason, which forced Hortiz and the Bolts front office to be strategic with shorter-term deals.

"Guys have different stories whether they were dealing with injuries, didn't play as well," Fulton said. "Guys came in we were all looking to show we could make an impact in this league. And I think those guys really showed it."

Bozeman added: "Anybody that came in here was ready to rock and roll. A 1-year deal, there's nothing guaranteed. The end of your career could be tomorrow. You come in here on those kinds of deals and you want to fight and try to secure yourself a spot in the future."

Overall, the Chargers signed more than a dozen players in free agency, nearly all of whom were on 1-year deals.

Fulton was a starter from the jump and provided solid cornerback play all season.

"Obviously last year wasn't my greatest year, so coming here it was proving to myself and my team and to upstairs [the front office] that I can still play in this league, be a top guy in this league," Fulton said.

Bozeman provided starting-level center play at a position that was crucial to Chargers Offensive Coordinator Greg Roman's new scheme.

A season-long captain, Bozeman has been a steady leader for the Bolts in the trenches.

"Being released by Carolina one year into my deal there, you feel unwanted," Bozeman said. "It's a paper-thin league and there's a lot of guys fighting for spots. There's only 32 [starting] center spots.

"I came in here with a mission, for sure, to prove that I was one of the best 32," Bozeman added. "That's been my goal, and I think I've done that this year."

Ford should garner All-Pro consideration for the way the defensive tackle played in 2024. He recently said his main focus upon arriving here was twofold: be adaptable and win.

"That's kind of the mindset I try to have every season," Ford said. "I don't like losing, I'm pretty sure nobody else in the locker room does like losing."

The Chargers have receiving strong contributions from other free agents, too, whether it be J.K. Dobbins, Denzel Perryman, Bud Dupree, Dye, Will Dissly or Gus Edwards.

Dupree and Dye explained how the two groups of players — the returning Chargers veterans and the fresh faces — melded together in powder blue.

"It's people just buying in," Dupree said. "Really, they have the same players as last year but just added a couple people.

"Just bringing just different guys who've been with winning organizations," Dupree added. "When you've got high-level players, you still want to have that winning caliber around and build it up and amplify them."

Dye said: "It's easy to play for the guy next to you because you know how much they've put in and they know how much you've put in. You don't want to let down that guy. Everybody is playing selfless ball and that's the best ball you can play, especially this time of year."

Not that we're ranking key free-agent additions, but Dobbins has been a beacon of light for the Bolts both on the field and in the locker room this season.

He surpassed 1,000 yards from scrimmage for the first time in his career this season, doing so in only 13 games, too.

Even Dobbins, who joined the Bolts in mid-April, had a hunch the Chargers would still be playing past Week 18.

"I knew the potential this team had, that's why I signed here. I saw the talent, I saw what was going to happen before it happened," Dobbins said.

He later added: "I firmly believed that this would happen, that we would be in the playoffs and we would have a great chance to do something special. It's been great to see it come together."

But in order for a team to make the dance, contributions must come from all throughout the roster, especially from rookies.

'I'm a winner'

They were eager to learn and contribute.

After all, most rookies are.

When it comes to the NFL Draft, the objective of each team is to generally to find a pair of starters to go along with a handful of other contributors in a yearly class.

For the Chargers, there were times this season when they had four 2024 draft picks — Joe Alt, Ladd McConkey, Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart — in starting roles.

When the Bolts draft class arrived in May, they kept their head down and only asked the necessary questions.

Hart said he made it a point to seek out advice from the likes of Mack, James, Herbert, Dupree and others once he felt comfortable enough doing so.

"If you can just sit back and take five, 10 minutes of your day just to holler at them," Hart said, "Chat it up with them and say, 'What's successful for you? How did this work? What went wrong your rookie year? Why didn't it go your way or did go your way?'

"I think there's a lesson there and you can get a lesson every day," Hart added. "I just feel like coming in and being able to learn, observe and absorb as much information as you possibly can, just watch and you'll look up and say, 'Damn, I came a long way.'"

As the playoffs loom, it's clear — and has been for a while — that Hortiz and the rest of the Bolts front office essentially crushed their first draft together.

Alt, the No. 5 overall pick, was a starter from Day 1 and finished 19^th among all NFL tackles with a PFF grade of 77.6.

McConkey set single-season rookie records with 82 receptions and 1,149 yards. Oh yeah, he also set an NFL rookie record (shared with fellow rookie Malik Nabers) by posting 10 games with at least 50 receiving yards this season.

Fifth rounders Still and Hart, taken with the Nos. 137 and 140 picks, respectively, both look like future key pieces of the Bolts defense.

Still finished the regular-season with a team-high four interceptions, which also tied for second among all rookie defensive players in 2024.

Hart, meanwhile, added a physical presence at outside corner with his 6-foot-2, 207-pound frame.

Much like Hart mentioned above, Still said he joined the Chargers with a growth mindset and was ready to contribute right away.

"I'm a winner, I love winning. I've had that mindset since I was young," Still said. "Really all the guys around us, we just come in here ready to work every single day.

"It's not just thinking about winning, it's about doing the things that set you up to win," Still added. "It's putting the work in practice, all that stuff. I really just put my head down, I grind, I follow the older guys."

Even rookie such as Junior Colson and Kimani Vidal, both of whom saw limited action this season, could factor into the roster in the coming years.

Alt credited the two buckets of players we covered above — the Chargers core vets and the impact free agents — for setting the right tone from the summer on.

"You had a lot of guys who were really close. It was just winning football and a good locker room culture and that's what you need," Alt said. "The best teams I've been on have been the closest on and off the field. That's what it was when I got here. I just had that feeling when I showed up."

'No stone unturned'

Credit is due almost everywhere throughout the organization for the Chargers success this season.

But most everyone would agree that a heaping amount of it deserves to land at the feet of Harbaugh and Hortiz.

It was Harbaugh who changed the culture from the second he arrived in Los Angeles.

"He just breeds confidence into every player," Fulton said. "He said the first thing we've got to do is work hard.

"And then, you've just got to believe in each other and come together as a group," Fulton added. "And everybody literally showed up. Seeing that showed that everybody brought in."

Dupree, a 10-year veteran, concurred.

"Guys were kind of like trying to figure out who he was, what he was at first," Dupree said. "But I would say halfway through training camp, everybody kind of saw what type of coach we're going to have. Everybody bought in and got us here where we are right now.

"You've got to want to be in the building," Dupree added. "The coaches have to make you want to be in the building. And if guys want to be here, it turns into winning."

Harbaugh continues to deflect any credit.

"I think players that like football, like me. And I like them back," Harbaugh said. "I like players that like football. And they like me back. That's what I've noticed."

Hortiz, in his first season being a GM after spending 26 years in Baltimore, has consistently churned over the roster looking for any and every avenue to make the Bolts better.

He traded for Elijah Molden and Taylor Heinicke in August, continually brought in free agent pieces during the season and has displayed a 365-day commitment to winning.

"He has done an unbelievable job of leaving no stone unturned in finding ways to make the roster better," Minter said.

'A special group'

The Chargers will soon find out if their hard work was worth it.

Sure, there is a sense of accomplishment for this team to make the playoffs, especially in Year 1 of the Harbaugh-Hortiz Era. An even brighter future seems certain on the horizon.

But this group is also hungry for their own playoff success.

Mack is still looking for the first playoff win of his career. Herbert, too.

The hope is that the past nine months — and everything that went into it — culminate in a win over the Texans with more to come.

Dye said there's a closeness with this team that is hard to describe.

From summer hangouts to a grueling training camp to a week-plus long stay on the East Coast to finding a way to get to 11 wins, it's been a journey to say the least.

"The 10 days we spent in Charlotte were some of the most memorable times I have in this league," Dye said. "It was like a field trip to summer camp with your friends away from your parents.

"We stayed in the hotel, and it was just a cool vibe and I think it naturally brought the guys together," Dye said. "They've done a phenomenal job of building a foundation when it comes to brotherhood and family."

Josh Harris is the team's longest-tenured NFL player. The long snapper with 13 seasons and 207 regular-season games of experience recently shared his thoughts on the Bolts.

"There's not really a secret formula other than a team buying in and playing for one another and believing in one another," Harris said. "Young guys, old guys and everybody in between … we've done a great job of coming together and hitting our stride at the right time."

Can a recent three-game win streak help propel the Chargers to postseason success?

Bosa is among the many players who hope so.

Because while the Bolts locker room is proud of this group, they also know that the start of the playoffs means this year's roster is up against a notorious one-game season.

Let's see what the 2024 Chargers have in store for the postseason.

"No year is ever the same and no roster is ever identical," Bosa said. "It's something that comes up in conversation every year … you have to take advantage of the opportunity because you don't know how many more you're going to have or how many guys are going to be around.

"We definitely feel like we have a special group and want to take advantage of it," Bosa added.