Chargers Power Rankings Roundup: Dominant defensed pushing Bolts into top 10 - Bolts From The Blue

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The Chargers dominated on defense yet again and got touchdowns in the air and on the ground from Justin Herbert in Week 10 to help beat the Titans 27-17.

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Justin Herbert threw one touchdown, ran in another, and the Chargers defense sacked Will Levis seven times to help close out a 27-17 victory over the Titans on Sunday afternoon.

The Bolts now face back-to-back home games in primetime against the Bengals (4-6) and Ravens (7-3) before traveling to Atlanta to face the Falcons.

Let’s go ahead and see where the team’s latest win has them positioned in this week’s power rankings.

They can run it, throw it and play defense. Oh, they also have a great coach. This team will be dangerous come playoff time. - Pete Prisco

As good as Justin Herbert’s day was, there was another score to Will Dissly that nearly happened. I’m not sure how Herbert feels about this, but I wonder if he would trade those outlier Burrow-Jackson duel-under-the-lights games for what he has now; a more conservative approach that allows for some panache but keeps him mostly protected. He has gone from a top-third sacked player in the NFL to a middle-tier sacked player. That has to make a difference. - Conor Orr

Justin Herbert’s numbers aren’t flashy, but he might be your favorite quarterback evaluator’s favorite quarterback. Herbert threw 18 passes Sunday but rolled up a 123.1 passer rating and is now sixth in that category among qualified passes (103.2). After toiling in relative obscurity for the first four years of his career, Herbert has a chance to get into the national conversation this year if the Chargers keep winning. - Josh Kendall

It’s time to start taking the Los Angeles Chargers seriously.

Yes, Sunday’s win came against a bad Tennessee Titans team. But the Chargers were once again rock-solid defensively. The Bolts are surrendering a league-low 13.1 points per game, and per ESPN the Chargers are the fourth team since 1990 and the first since the 2013 Kansas City Chiefs to allow 20 or fewer points in each of its first nine games.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters after the victory that the win was a true team effort.

“A complete, total team win. When you look at the offense, the drives that we put together ... tough, gritty type of conversions on third down and fourth down,” Harbaugh said. “They’re playing lights out on the defensive side. And then special teams, another big return by our punt return unit.”

The Chargers are playing excellent defense and complementary offense. The AFC West might not be a realistic goal, but the Bolts have already exceeded last year’s win total, and a wild-card berth is absolutely on the table.

Analyst’s Take

Jim Harbaugh was never likely to make the Chargers title contenders in his first season on the job. However, he has quickly forged a squad that, when healthy, has few real weaknesses. The defense is elite, the running game is above average, and quarterback Justin Herbert is thriving as a high-end game-manager.

With both Quentin Johnston and Ladd McConkey emerging as reliable receivers, the Chargers have become a well-balanced, well-coached team and talented enough that no one should want to see them in January. - Kristopher Knox

Dobbins has been the Chargers’ most impactful offseason signing, giving L.A. its best rushing offense since the days of LaDainian Tomlinson. After suffering a season-ending Achilles rupture in Week 1 of last season, Dobbins is having one of the best years of his career. Coach Jim Harbaugh has used postgame news conferences to campaign for Dobbins to be the Comeback Player of the Year. He is up to 670 yards and six touchdowns this season, which both rank in the NFL’s top 10. - Kris Rhim

The Chargers have seen Justin Herbert get into a downfield passing groove to support the strong rushing attack, which also makes things easier on the defense. Jim Harbaugh’s team is the Falcons of the NFC — just worried about getting to its best come AFC playoff time - Vinnie Iyer

The Chargers will be a tough out in the playoffs. - Mike Florio

The Chargers’ next four games are vs. Bengals, vs. Ravens, at Falcons, at Chiefs. About the only bad thing to say about the Chargers is they don’t have any quality wins aside from one at Denver. They have a chance to change that over the next month. - Frank Schwab

The league’s stingiest defense – it hasn’t allowed more than 20 points in a game – is about to get stern tests with the high-powered Bengals and Ravens headed to SoCal the next two weeks for prime-time showcases. - Nate Davis

One part of the improvement in Justin Herbert’s play this season is certainly because he’s gotten healthier, but if you watched him play on Sunday, you saw a quarterback unafraid of throwing his body around, and maybe one that kind of likes to get hit now. Herbert’s involvement in the offense as a scrambler takes a great deal of strain off the receivers and offensive line, and Los Angeles hasn’t gone overboard in how much they’re using him as a runner, either. Even if this offense isn’t putting up sexy numbers on a weekly basis, the approach is why they’re controlling games.

There’s a rough patch of the schedule coming up, with Baltimore, Cincinnati, Atlanta, and Kansas City over the next month. If this team can score enough to keep pace in those games, they could become the AFC team nobody will want to play come January. - Diante Lee