• Strength of schedule: .478 (T-27th)
• Bye: Week 5

Playing in the AFC West is no picnic, but Jim Harbaugh’s reentry to the NFL should help counter that facet of the Bolts’ schedule. There are tough home tests against the Ravens (the next edition of the Harbowl) and Bengals, road tests at Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Kansas City, plus two trips to the East Coast (at Atlanta and New England), which traditionally have been tougher for West Coast-based teams. Otherwise, there just aren’t a lot of obvious pitfalls here.

The Chargers haven’t been a great road team in recent seasons, but this year sets up pretty darned well away from home. Outside of the contest in Kansas City, there isn’t a single away game that the Chargers shouldn’t have a good chance of winning on paper right now, even after moving on from a handful of veteran players in cost-cutting moves.

The Bolts open with the Raiders at home, then visit the Panthers and Steelers prior to facing the Chiefs for the first time, in L.A. in Week 4. That works out rather nicely, as their first three opponents all struggled to score last season and carry some measure of offensive worry into 2024. The closing trio of games (vs. the Broncos, at the Patriots, at the Raiders) looks quite nice, too.

The toughest stretch comes in Weeks 11-15. While it helps that three of the five games in that portion of the schedule are at home, the Chargers must face the Bengals and Ravens (on Monday Night Football) at home, visit the Falcons and Chiefs (on Sunday Night Football) and then host the Buccaneers. Survive that run in decent shape, and the Chargers might be back in the postseason in Harbaugh’s first year.