Two games into the season, 26-14 has become a familiar score for the Chargers. Arizona beat them by that margin in the opener. A week later, the Raiders did it again, leaving SoFi Stadium at 2-0 while Los Angeles fell to 0-2.
That is almost the reverse of the preseason picture.
On Sept. 2, a 19-person NFL.com panel gave the Chargers seven votes to win the AFC West and placed them on 10 wild-card ballots. The Raiders received no division votes and did not appear among the listed wild-card vote-getters.
The weekly picks leaned even harder toward Los Angeles. Twenty-nine of 30 listed media members picked the Chargers over Arizona. Then 27 of 31 picked them over Las Vegas.
Twice, the score went the other way.
Six minutes that changed the game
The Chargers took a 14-10 lead in the third quarter Sunday when Justin Herbert found Oronde Gadsden for a 10-yard touchdown. Los Angeles was in front.
The Raiders answered before the quarter ended. Kirk Cousins drove Las Vegas down the field and hit Cody White for a 13-yard touchdown, putting the Raiders back ahead 17-14 less than six minutes after the Chargers had taken the lead.
That three-point margin held until late in the fourth quarter. Nakobe Dean forced an Omarion Hampton fumble, and Jeremy Chinn returned it 43 yards. Cousins found White again three plays later, this time for an 11-yard touchdown. Hezekiah Masses followed with his second interception of Herbert before a safety completed the Raiders’ 26-14 win.
Cousins finished with 253 yards and three touchdown passes. White caught two of them. The Raiders had the quarterback who answered the Chargers’ only lead and the defense that closed the game.
Las Vegas reached 2-0 by winning in two different ways. Ashton Jeanty had 147 yards from scrimmage and two receiving touchdowns in the 27-13 opener against Miami, while the defense recorded five sacks and forced two turnovers. Against the Chargers, Cousins, White and a late run of takeaways supplied the decisive plays.
The same score, a different mistake
The Chargers’ losses share a final score, but they did not follow the same script. In the opener against Arizona, Los Angeles trailed by two in the fourth quarter when the Cardinals blocked a punt and took over at the Chargers’ 3-yard line. Arizona scored two plays later.
Against Las Vegas, the Chargers finally took a lead. They could not hold it, then lost the ball at the moment they needed a tying drive.
Two games do not prove that Las Vegas will reach the playoffs, or that Los Angeles cannot recover. They do show why the records point in opposite directions today. The Raiders have answered pressure with points and takeaways. The Chargers have given away the critical possession in both fourth quarters.
Las Vegas leaves Week 2 with two wins and more than one formula for getting them. Los Angeles heads into Week 3 needing to finish a close game before 26-14 becomes more than an early-season echo.