Family. Trust. Respect. If you know, you know! The Los Angeles Chargers swept the lowly Raiders with a dominant second half, but all eyes are now directed towards the rocky road ahead of the Chargers.

Today’s Hottest Take: The Chargers Will Leave “The Gauntlet” With a Winning Record

Do me a favor, look at the Chargers' next five matchups: The reigning Super Bowl Champs, the reigning AFC Champs, a scorching hot Dallas team that just beat both of those previously mentioned squads, a surging Texans team with arguably the best defense in the NFL, and the current No. 1 seed in the AFC. I don’t think the term “Gauntlet” has ever been more appropriate. To control their destiny as far as a playoff berth is concerned, the Chargers must finish 3-2 in this five-game stretch, especially after last week's “Rooting Guide” didn’t exactly come to fruition.

As tricky as this stretch could be to navigate, every game has certain things Bolts fans can look to for a jolt of optimism. Starting with the Week 14 primetime matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles, there’s no better time to catch this Eagles team. Despite the 8-4 record, the Birds are fresh off allowing 281 rushing yards and providing another dismal offensive showing, and it feels like they are in total disarray.

In Week 15 against Kansas City, their aura of invincibility is gone. The Chargers have already defeated the Chiefs once this year, and with the state of Andy Reid’s team right now, there’s no reason to think they can’t do it again. As far as the final three games, a lot can change in two weeks. Does Dallas come back to Earth? Does Houston’s offense fall back into ineptitude? Does Denver need to play their starters in Week 18? As terrifying as this gauntlet looks on paper, I’m backing Jim Harbaugh’s squad to come out battle-tested with a playoff berth to show for their efforts.

What You Need to Know: Justin Herbert’s Health Is The Big Question

Now, pretty much everything I’ve said to this point (and really, since the beginning of September) comes down to one thing: Is Justin Herbert healthy?

Despite the season-altering scare every Chargers fan, player, coach, and front office member experienced when QB1 had to run to the locker room and backup Trey Lance (who did an exceptional job in relief) had to check in, Herbert re-emerged later with a gloved-up left hand and returned to play. Despite some obvious limitations, including the inability to go under center, Herbert regrouped his team after halftime and outscored the Raiders 24-7 in the second half. We even got to see Herbert let his personality fly a couple of times, letting the Raiders know all about the fact that they had no answer for his offense.

It was all fun and games until after the game, until it came out that Justin Herbert was headed for surgery on Monday morning, and his status for Monday’s showdown with the Eagles was in jeopardy. Now, Twitter doctors from all across the nation have come out in droves to try to predict QB1’s status going forward, and it seems like the majority opinion is #10 will suit up going forward, and considering Herbert’s track record when it comes to playing through injuries, I’d venture to believe the same. We will most certainly gain some clarity as practice reports come out through the week.

Before You Go: The Team's Post-Bye Renovations Look Good

Nothing angers me more as a fan of the sport of football than when a team leaves the bye week the same way they entered it, especially in a league that rewards proactive evolution. It is very clear that Harbaugh, and more specifically Jesse Minter, feel the same. We saw plenty of new wrinkles with the Chargers this past week. Probably the one that stood out the most was Jamaree Salyer getting the nod at left tackle, a position where he excelled as a rookie when filling in during the 2023 season. If you’ve watched the Chargers in recent weeks, that performance probably felt like an out-of-body experience.

The next batch of changes really came on the defensive side of the ball, as Jesse Minter started to add to his bag of tricks, with a season-high Cover 0 rate of 15.2%, indicating we might see the second-year defensive coordinator dial up the pressure much more often during this end-of-the-season stretch. Minter also used his own tendencies against the Raiders by breaking his 2-high shell, and rolling extra bodies into the box or off the edge much more often than usual. Messing with pass protection schemes and using Daiyan Henley as a chess piece, both off the edge and as an off-ball linebacker.

The Chargers defense has been scrutinized throughout the season after rough performances, but Jesse Minter has done a good job constantly rebounding and now evolving this unit and his scheme, which is the sign of a good coach. If the Chargers want to do anything of consequence, this was a very good step in that direction.