On Monday evening, the Los Angeles Chargers improved to 2-0 on the young 2025 NFL season with an impressive 20-9 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders in an AFC West showdown. The Chargers' defense, which looked solid in Week 1 against the Kansas City Chiefs, was even better on Monday, neutralizing a Geno Smith-led offense that had torched the New England Patriots a week prior.
In fact, so impressive was the defensive performance for the Chargers against Las Vegas that they made a bit of NFL history in the process.
NFL+ noted on X, formerly Twitter, noted that in the win over the Raiders, the Chargers had 15 passes defended, six tackles for loss, three takeaways, and no touchdowns allowed.
“No team had ever hit all these marks in a game since both passes defensed and tackles for loss were first tracked in 1999,” they noted on X.
The Chargers' defense was the team's calling card a season ago, allowing them to vault themselves back into the playoffs under first year head coach Jim Harbaugh.
This year, it seems that the unit has gotten even better despite some key injuries, including one suffered by Khalil Mack during the game on Monday evening.
Can the Chargers compete?
The Los Angeles Chargers were expected to once again be a fringe playoff team in the crowded AFC this year, but through two weeks, it seems possible that Los Angeles could be the best team in the conference not named Buffalo or Baltimore.
The Chargers started out the year with a bang, beating the Chiefs in Brazil in what was one of the best games of quarterback Justin Herbert's career.
While the offense wasn't quite as electric during Monday's win over the Raiders, the team still did enough to pick up a double-digit road win over a Raiders squad that many feel could be a sleeper playoff team in the AFC this year
Herbert's wide receiving core looks a lot better than it did a year ago, and if the Chargers can continue to produce at this level, they could be one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL.
