The pick for NFL survival pools seemed so easy for Week 1. The Los Angeles Chargers were the biggest favorite on the board, one of the biggest opening-game favorites over many years.
And now, the Chargers go down in infamy as one of the popular survival picks that got people eliminated before the theme song for the first “Sunday Night Football” of the season hit.
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The Chargers, the most popular pick at Yahoo Survival Football for Week 1 as they were picked by 32.5%, are 0-1. The Arizona Cardinals, who closed as a 9.5-point underdog at most sportsbooks, pulled a huge upset by beating the Chargers 26-14.
The Chargers defense couldn’t get a stop early. The Cardinals‘ first five possessions resulted in a touchdown, three field goals and a missed field goal. A lot was made this offseason about the Chargers hiring Mike McDaniel to be their offensive coordinator, perhaps not enough was made of Los Angeles losing defensive coordinator Jesse Minter to the Baltimore Ravens‘ head-coaching job.
The Chargers were still barely trailing in the fourth quarter when their special teams had a massive mistake. The Cardinals blocked a punt and took over at the Chargers’ 3-yard line. They scored a touchdown, turning a 16-14 lead into 23-14 with 11:44 to play.
There was still time after that, even trailing by two possessions, but Justin Herbert threw deep with two Cardinals defenders in coverage, and it was picked off by safety Andrew Wingard.
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The Chargers went away quietly after that. Los Angeles got a lot of offseason hype, which has happened in plenty of recent offseasons, only to see the Chargers disappoint everyone. It’s just one game but Sunday was a big warning that the Chargers might be going down that same road again. Survival pickers won’t be forgiving them anytime soon.
