The Baltimore Ravens visit the Los Angeles Chargers tonight in a game that matches one of the best head coaches in the game, John Harbaugh, against the worst, Brandon Staley. While both teams have excellent rosters, Harbaugh has the Ravens atop the AFC North Division and in position to claim home field advantage in the conference playoffs.

Staley has the Chargers buried in last place in the AFC West with only four wins in ten decisions.

Makes you wonder why the Chargers have stuck so long with Staley after consecutive seasons of making more mistakes from his position on the field than just about anyone in the league.

I’ll tell you why, because the Chargers organization gave Staley such a big contract they are hoping to get some return for their investment. Bad idea, given they also have one of the highest paid players behind center and Justin Herbert is simply not getting the support he needs to realize his full potential.

So, take the Ravens tonight and laugh all the way to the bank?

There is a problem with that assumption. The Chargers are more in need of this game and at home getting points is a choice spot for them to overcome their coaching woes and give the Ravens a surprise competitive game.

That fact is enough to dissuade me from laying the points on the road with a Ravens squad comfortably ahead in their division race.

But I would bend that way before I would back the Chargers with this mismatch on the sidelines.

Now, if the Chargers were able to pull together tonight and pick up an unexpected victory, then the AFC West would have all four teams in their grouping on the prowl to earn a playoff berth.

Stranger things have happened. Consider this, a couple years ago the Raiders fired their head coach and their special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia, took over and led the Raiders to a postseason berth. This year, the Raiders fired Josh McDaniels and Las Vegas has played remarkably better since the shift.

Does this give you any ideas Chargers?

I would love to see Herbert excel at a level in an organization that takes full advantage of his skillset, but that’s not going to happen under his current coach.