Because enough San Diegans will watch the Chargers no matter what, CBS will serve up the last-place Los Angeles team’s skimpy game Sunday against the Broncos instead of the Bengals against the Chiefs.
According to San Diego KFMB Channel 8, such programming decisions are made at the national level, where the network’s big thinkers lump San Diego with Greater Los Angeles in deciding which NFL games will air here.
So in other words: it doesn’t matter how irrelevant the Chargers are elsewhere or that Justin Herbert and several other Bolts stars won’t play Sunday. Where CBS is concerned, San Diego and the Chargers are of one piece, although it’s been nearly seven years since Dean Spanos and siblings moved their family business, uninvited, to Greater L.A.
Evoking a preseason flavor, the 1:25 p.m. game in Denver will see backup quarterbacks Easton Stick and Jarret Stidham start for AFC West franchises whose higher-ups no doubt would welcome an even higher slot in the next draft that a defeat would confer.
At the same time, fans in other markets will see a game from packed Arrowhead Stadium that has playoff implications. The AFC West-leading Chiefs (9-6) of Patrick Mahomes and the pesky Bengals (8-7) will reprise one of the better inter-divisional rivalries.
If it were only about the football, I’d rather watch the likes of Mahomes, Tee Higgins, Andy Reid’s offense, Ja’Marr Chase, Travis Kelce, Chris Jones and Joe Mixon every time over the current versions of the Chargers (5-10) minus Herbert, Keenan Allen and Joey Bosa and the Broncos (7-8) minus top receiver Courtland Sutton and other standouts.
CBS and the Spanoses appreciate Jerry Seinfeld’s timeless quips about the inexhaustible loyalty of sports teams’ fans.
“You’re rooting for clothes, when you get right down to it. We’re screaming about laundry,” the comedian said.
Despite many locals losing interest after the team’s relocation, the blue-and-gold attire tugs enough San Diegans’ heartstrings to pull the purse strings with CBS and its rs. After all, fans don’t see video of Dean Spanos elevating his son John into the football braintrust, as he did late in the franchise’s San Diego tenure. The 11-year, Dean-and-John era has produced no AFC West titles or home playoff games — but the crisp blue-and-gold uniforms and lightning bolt helmets trigger powerful vibes and memories, many of them familial, that can run as deep as 1961 and Balboa Stadium.
Elsewhere
Perhaps because he wore a Ryan Leaf jersey to Chargers games as a boy, Carlsbad’s Kevin O’Connell is experiencing bad juju at QB in his second year as an NFL head coach. His Vikings star Kirk Cousins was lost to an Achilles injury in the team’s eighth game. Thriving in the “KOC” attack, Cousins had posted an average of 291.3 ing yards per game that still leads the league. First replacement Jaren Hall, a rookie drafted out of BYU in the fifth round, has been concussed twice. Other starts have gone to Josh Dobbs and Nick Mullens. Amazingly, the Vikings (7-8) aren’t out of the NFC’s playoff race.
- OT David Quessenberry has started the past two games for O’Connell’s offense. Both men are graduates of La Costa Canyon High School.
- Chris Olave (Misson Hills) leads the Saints in receptions (81) and receiving yards (1,041) and shares the team lead in touchdown receptions (four) with Rashid Shaheed (Mt. Carmel) and others. An undrafted second-year player whose explosiveness would’ve helped the Chargers unlock Herbert, Shaheed averages 15.6 yards per catch on 41 receptions. His average depth of target is 14.9 yards past the line of scrimmage.
