Chargers look to end losing streak against Jags on Monday Night

Monday Night Football usually consists of a matchup between two teams that are winning and in contention for playoff spots at the end of the season. This week’s game is a little different, as the 4-7 Chargers are visiting the 3-8 Jaguars in the ultimate battle of struggling teams. Instead of playoff positioning, the two teams are competing for where they are going to draft come April, which is something that no team wants to be thinking about at the beginning of December. The Chargers are coming off of a disappointing game against the Bronco’s and are taking all of the negative criticism that comes with losing 6 straight games in a row. At this point there is pretty much no chance that the Chargers are going to make the playoffs and the only thing that they are playing for in the last five games of the season is pride. The road to a strong finish starts on Monday against the Jaguars who are also playing the rest of this season on the basis of pride. Even though this Jags team has only won three games, they are still capable of pulling off some surprises having beaten a very good Ravens team earlier in the season. QB Blaine Gabbert is a very talented young player and has a supporting cast that consists of one of the best running backs in the NFL in Maurice Jones-Drew.

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The Charger’s defense needs to focus on containing Jones-Drew and force the young Quarterback to prove himself through the air. On the other side of the ball, the Chargers have continued to battle injuries along the offensive line and have been forced to sign free agents and dig deep down into the depth chart in order to fill those voids. If the line can find some consistency and protect Phillip Rivers, the offense should have a chance to put up some good numbers against a surprisingly solid Jags D that is 4 th in the league in pass defense and 14 th in run defense. Another pattern to look out for with the Chargers offense is how they run the football. It seems as the season has gone on, Ryan Matthews has been given more opportunities to contribute to the offense and made some very solid strides last week, running for 137 yards on 22 carries. As Phillip Rivers and the rest of the passing game tries to get on track, look for Ryan Matthews to shine on Monday night and help the Chargers snap their losing streak.

In other news, last week I mentioned how Norv Turner has been rumored to be fired at the end of the season. After last week’s loss, there are more and more reports that Tuner will indeed be fired when the Charger’s finish their season. There have also been rumors that General Manager AJ Smith will be fired as well when the season ends.

By: Derek White
ProFootball-fans.com San Diego Chargers Correspondent