Before the season started I had four American Football Conference teams that I thought had the best chance of winning Super Bowl LX. Two of them meet this Sunday in Baltimore and it is not going well for either of them. The Ravens host the Houston Texans, and the two teams come into action with one and three records.
The other two teams I thought had the best chance in the AFC are doing quite well, the Buffalo Bills are undefeated and the Los Angeles Chargers lost their first game of the season last Sunday to the New York Giants.
Wait a minute, how good can the Chargers be if they lose to a very suspect Giants squad that started a rookie at quarterback?
Most teams, no matter how good they are and what their prospects turn out to be, will have a game or two where they come up paupers. In 1994, the San Francisco 49ers won the Super Bowl in convincing fashion, 49-26, over the San Diego Chargers. They lost only three games that season, but in fifth week action as a nine-point home favorite they got rolled by the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-8. The only other game they lost that season after that Week Five surprise setback was a meaningless last day of the season loss to the Minnesota Vikings.
What happened to the eventual Super Bowl Champions against the Eagles served to focus the team at a higher level for the rest of the season. San Francisco was not relying on talent alone to carry their season, but added the “Money off my back,” mentality that their quarterback, Steve Young, celebrated on the sidelines near the end of their lopsided win in Super Bowl XXIX.
The Charges loss last week at MetLife Stadium could serve the same purpose for a Jim Harbaugh coach squad that seems to have it all.