The San Diego Chargers are overwhelming favorites in 2010 NFL preseason betting to win the AFC West this season. The Chargers are -450 to win the division with the next team a distant 4-1. San Diego is also getting some action in NFL preseason lines in Super Bowl futures as they are 11-1.
2010 NFL preseason betting will favor San Diego in their first game as they host the Chicago Bears on August 14th. The Chargers are home against Dallas in Week 2 before finishing up with two road contests at New Orleans and at San Francisco. San Diego gets a lot of action in NFL preseason lines every year but when it comes winning in the playoffs, the Chargers are a bust. They have made the playoffs in five of the past six years but they have not reached the Super Bowl.
The Chargers have one of the best quarterbacks in the game in Philip Rivers and a ton of talent but they continue to fail in the big games. Having Norv Turner as head coach is one of the problems as he has never done anything in big games as a head coach. Turner does know offense though and San Diego can put up points. They have Rivers and a potent passing attack with tight end Antonio Gates and wide receiver Vincent Jackson. The Chargers lost LaDainian Tomlinson in the off-season but they kept Darren Sproles and they drafted Ryan Matthews in the first round.
The problem for San Diego is their defense and it may not be any better in 2010. They lost nose tackle Jamal Williams in the off-season and they also didn’t sign Antonio Cromartie. Linebacker Shawne Merriman continues to be overrated and overall the Chargers don’t have enough defensive playmakers. The Chargers are hoping that former first-round pick Antoine Cason can make an impact or perhaps they can get something out of former Chicago cornerback Nathan Vasher. The Chargers had great special teams in the regular season with kicker Nate Kaeding and punter Mike Scifres but Kaeding choked in the playoffs against the Jets. San Diego is hoping that Kaeding can recover from that disaster.
The Chargers are the pick by most people to win the AFC West but it should be noted that the entire division is better this year. San Diego didn’t do much to improve in the off-season so they may be overvalued.