Game Day: Is it the Chargers’ turn to make a run?

Editor’s note: This is the Wednesday, Nov. 30 edition of the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Good morning. The pro football season for Los Angeles fans is now in the hands of the Chargers. Where they’ll take us is unknown. But they seem destined to make it interesting.

There’s plenty of other news:

• The United States got the win it needed against Iran to hold second place behind England in Group B and advance to an elimination game against the Netherlands on Saturday.

• Columnist Mirjam Swanson sampled the emotions of Iranian-Americans who were in Qatar for the match.

• UCLA’s 15th-ranked women’s basketball team led top-ranked South Carolina by 10 points but ended up losing for the first time this season.

• USC moved into the all-important top four in the College Football Playoff rankings, while quarterback Caleb Williams talked about managing the distractions that come with being the Heisman Trophy frontrunner.

• The Dodgers reportedly are signing Shelby Miller for their bullpen.

• Norman Powell and the Clippers rallied for a good road win at Portland.

• The Kings scored eight goals but lost in overtime to the Seattle Kraken.

• And the Ducks dropped an OT decision to the Predators in Nashville.

• And please read Part III of the series on the Angels’ farm system, the story offers some hope.

The dramatic end of the Chargers’ victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, an all-or-nothing gamble on a two-point conversion paying off in a Justin Herbert-to-Gerald Everett completion and a 25-24 win, felt like the start of something too.

It was a year ago this week that the Rams began their run to and eventually through the playoffs. Nothing like that is happening this year for the Rams, whose Super Bowl title defense is a shambles of injuries and losses. It has been hard to watch.

Could the Chargers pick up the pieces and make a run of their own?

After the win in Arizona, they’re alive for a playoff spot, but the postseason is not looking as certain as it appeared in the preseason when Las Vegas made them the sixth choice (at 14-1 odds) to win the Super Bowl, with an over-under line of 10½ victories.

At 6-5, they’re three games behind the AFC West-leading Kansas City Chiefs with six to play, and they and the New England Patriots are a game behind the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Jets in the race for the last AFC wild card.

“At this point, all games for us feel like a must-win,” running back Austin Ekeler said after the Cardinals game.

Elliott Teaford, our Chargers beat reporter, wrote this week that they need to go at least 4-2 the rest of the way and finish no worse than 10-7 to make the playoffs, avoiding another near-miss like they suffered last year at 9-8.

That calculation sounds right.

But right now, the people who project playoff possibilities give the Chargers no better than a 50-50 shot at pulling it off. Playoffstatus.com gives them a 50% chance, The New York Times puts them at 45%, and FiveThirtyEight.com has them at 41%.

Little about the Chargers has been as good as advertised so far. FootballOutsiders.com’s ratings of play-by-play success rank them below average on both sides of the ball overall, with their 15th-best pass defense the closest thing to a bright spot. They’re 30th in yards per run on offense and 32nd in yards per run on defense.

The story of the season could be told in the next three weeks, when the Chargers travel to Las Vegas to face the Raiders and NFL rushing leader Josh Jacobs this Sunday, then host the Miami Dolphins and league yards-per-pass leader Tua Tagovailoa and the Tennessee Titans and two-time rushing leader Derrick Henry.

The lightning bolt might be pointing upward, though. Herbert has been looking better and better since recovering from his early-season rib injury. Wide receiver Keenan Allen is over his hamstring injury, and No. 2 running back Joshua Kelley is back from a knee injury. The Chargers have to get edge rusher Joey Bosa (out since September with a groin tear) and wide receiver Mike Williams (ankle) back soon.

The latest from Teaford and the SCNG sports columnists on the Chargers can be found online here and in the Notes and Bolts newsletter by signing up here, and on Twitter (@ElliottTeaford).

With coach Brandon Staley’s willingness to gamble on fourth downs and two-point conversions, the team’s propensity to play close games, and their playoff chances a coin flip, the Chargers should give L.A. pro football fans something worth watching in December and maybe January.

TODAY

• The Clippers visit the Utah Jazz (6 p.m., BSSC). They split earlier meetings, but Utah was going better then.

• The Lakers host the Trail Blazers (7:30 p.m., SPSN) and try to put their collapse vs. Indiana behind them.

• The USC men’s basketball team opens Pac-12 play vs. 0-7 Cal in Berkeley (7 p.m., Pac12N).

READERS REACT

The newsletter asked: Are you optimistic that the Angels can fix their farm system under a new owner?

Tom Burns emailed with a qualified yes: “The team needs a buyer with deep pockets, willing to invest in continuing to improve the farm system as well as pitching. Keeping Ohtani is a must after this year. Healthy players are a must. The Astros are not invincible. The Phillies almost got Game 4, which could have meant the (World) Series, without the catch in center field. That close!”

NEXT QUESTION

Will the Chargers beat the Raiders in Las Vegas on Sunday and raise their hopes of making the playoffs? Respond by email (KModesti@scng.com) or on Twitter (@KevinModesti).

280 CHARACTERS

“9 big, fat, stressful minutes!!!” – Damian Calhoun (@DamianCalhoun), who covers the Galaxy for the SCNG papers, as stoppage time was posted in the U.S.-Iran game. The U.S. defended its 1-0 lead and advanced to the World Cup’s knockout rounds.

1,000 WORDS

Worth it: U.S. forward Christian Pulisic collides with Iran goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand as he scores the only goal in the victory yesterday in Doha, Qatar, that put the Americans into the round of 16 at the World Cup. Pulisic was taken to a hospital and diagnosed with a pelvic contusion. The photo is by Neil Hall for EFE/EPA.

LET’S TALK

Thanks for reading the newsletter. Send suggestions, comments and questions by email at KModesti@scng.com and via Twitter @KevinModesti.

Editor’s note: Thanks for reading the “Game Day with Kevin Modesti” newsletter. To receive the newsletter in your inbox, sign up here.

Kevin Modesti is a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News and the Southern California News Group who hosts Game Day With Kevin Modesti, the papers’ sports newsletter. An L.A. native, he has been a sports writer, columnist and editor, an editorial board member, writer and editor in the Opinion section, and a political reporter. He lives in the San Fernando Valley.