If we were to solicit power rankings of all 32 teams from PFT Planet, it is hard to imagine that too many people would rank the Chargers at the top of the league.
It’s hard to imagine they’d rank in playoff position or in the top half of the league, either. The Chargers ended last season without a ton of talent on the roster, their defense has been pretty much gutted and there are plenty of holes on both sides of the ball.
If Chargers safety Eric Weddle got one of those ballots, however, the Chargers would get at least one vote for the top spot. He’s been inspired by the arrival of coach Mike McCoy and that’s left him feeling like the Chargers are the team to beat as opposed to just being a team that gets beat.
“Now, shoot, I feel like we’re the best team in the league. And a lot of that is because of coach McCoy and the way he presents himself -- the way he portrays what he wants. A lot of what you are as a team is attitude, and you can control that. I’m just excited,” Weddle said, via Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune. “It’s a new year, a new belief. Until the season ends, I think we’re going to be the best.”
The Chargers aren’t the best team in the league, but it would be silly to brush off the positive effect that the change from Norv Turner and A.J. Smith to McCoy and Tom Telesco can have on the team. The Chargers did not have an attitude like they were a team to be reckoned with in past years. They looked like a team waiting for something to go wrong, a mindset that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy almost all of the time in football.
If McCoy can get Weddle, the team’s most talented player, to believe that the future is bright again in San Diego, he should be able to get most of the roster on board as well. It won’t get them back to the top of the AFC West, but it is an important change in view for San Diego all the same.