By: Jack Markowitz (@jaquilleoneal04)

Last Thursday, many of us watched the Los Angeles Chargers and quarterback Easton Stick fall to the Las Vegas Raiders 21-63. 

While things may have looked horrible for the Chargers in every part of the game, this wasn’t a total loss.  According to my advanced analytics, they actually won the game-especially when you look beyond the scoreboard.

The Second Half

Obviously, it’s difficult to ignore the first half, which ended 42-0 in favor of the Raiders.  But if you’re willing to, which I am, this game should really be thought of as a tie or even a win for the Chargers.  They always say, it’s not how you start, but how you finish, and across the final 20 minutes, the Chargers actually won the game 21-14.  The Chargers can use this to gain momentum for their playoff chase.

Only Second Worst

In most seasons, Thursday’s point total by the Raiders would be the worst of the year.  However, in Week 3, the Dolphins dominated the Broncos 70-20.  Managing to avoid being beaten by 50, and instead being beaten by only a measly 42 points.  This really was a much closer game than the scoreboard might indicate at first glance.  Additionally, after this game, the Broncos managed to turn it around and are now above .500, indicating good things to come for the Chargers.

5-9 Isn’t That Bad

While it’s not ideal to be 5-9 and 15th in the AFC, things aren’t over.  If the Chargers can win out, they would end the season at 8-9.  All they would need is for the Titans, Jets, Raiders, Bills, Bengals, Broncos, Texans, Colts, and Steelers, some of whom play each other, to lose or tie in every game, and they can sneak into the 6th seed.

The Staley Factor

The antagonist of Thursday night’s game was clearly Brandon Staley.  The Chargers were extremely late firing him and G.M. Tom Telesco.  News didn’t break on the east coast until 12:10 P.M., which is way beyond when it should have been.  They should have woken up extra early and called them into the office at 5:00 A.M., releasing the news by 8:30 A.M. EST so that none of the Chargers fans on the east coast had to live even one more day under the belief that they were still employed by the team.  It was yet another case of Dean Spanos not caring about the six fans he still has.

An Amazing Photoshoot

As a result of the game being over by halftime, the cameramen had lots of extra time to pan to players.  There were plenty of moments where the camera got shots of Chargers players sad on the sideline.  While the game wasn’t fun, many players will have plenty of options for melancholy portraits, if they were looking for new pictures to hang in their homes.

Half the Effort

Due to the game ending by the time halftime had started, Chargers players didn’t need to try as hard in the second half, meaning they could get in some extra rest before they go home.  This will ensure they’re able to play at 100% in their upcoming matchups.

The Future

The next games for the Chargers are against the Bills, the Broncos, and the Chiefs.  As we saw on Sunday, the Bills are actually 6-7, not 7-6, as they got completely bailed out against the Chiefs when Kadarius Toney had barely any of his big toe slightly past the line of scrimmage.  Additionally, it was a really cool play, so the referee really should have considered cancelling out the flag.  The Broncos are led by famed Subway commercial personality Russell Wilson, known around the world for his inspirational quotes such as “everybody eats bread” and “unliiiiiiimited diarrhea.”  The Chiefs, although good, have absolutely no sauce right now.  The Chargers should easily go 3-0 during this stretch which, as discussed above, would be enough to get them into the playoffs with only a little bit of help by other teams.

In conclusion, the Chargers had one of the most dominant wins of the season last night, and put up a historic performance.  They played a complete game when it mattered and created the results that really matter.  When you think of the consequences of the game last night, it’s easy to see this as the clear turning point towards a Charger Super Bowl victory next February.