Chargers Bottom Out in Power Rankings…But Top NFL Draft Order

The Chargers are bad but at least it sets up a fun draft season...right?

Justin Herbert | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Los Angeles Chargers are the worst team in the NFL. It’s a budding idea that has been whispered for a few weeks now and got confirmation while they sat on bye and morphed into the NFL’s only winless team.

With even the hapless-looking Tennessee Titans winning a game, the Chargers are now dead last in power rankings at 0-6. Any rankings without them at No. 32, frankly, aren’t worth the time of day. 

Chargers fans, at least, got a win while this happened. Those fans, who probably checked out after 0-4 and turned to offseason mode already, just got to watch as the Chargers took a firm, lonely grip on the No. 1 overall pick. 

So there’s that, at least. Silver linings and stuff, right?

NFL Week 8 power rankings and draft order update

Justin Herbert | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

About those power rankings. 

Sporting News’ Vinnie Iyer put it best while plopping the Chargers at No. 32: “The Chargers have been hit with a bolt of poor energy under Jim Harbaugh and come out of the bye as the league's sole winless team. They need to stop playing like 53 Frankensteins who were just hit by lightning.”

Speaking of “bolts” of energy, the Chargers were hit with anything but via the arrival of Mike McDaniel. He tweaked some of Herbert’s mechanics and remolded the personnel in free agency and the draft to miserable results so far. 

That makes the updated NFL draft order pretty shaky: 

1. LA Chargers (0-6)
2. Tennessee (1-6)
3. Miami (1-5)
4. Washington (1-4-1)
5. Houston (2-5)

Shaky, because the popular idea is the Chargers going after Ohio State wideout Jeremiah Smith in the top five. 

Sounds fun. The Chargers have spent too much time on first-rounder Quentin Johnston and his drop issues while names like Ladd McConkey fight injury woes and others like Tre Harris have yet to emerge. 

But will it be McDaniel scheming up Smith in his offense? Will Jim Harbaugh even still be around at this point?

And knowing NFL coverage, especially in the offseason, how often will analysis call for the Chargers to take a risk on quarterback and make a big trade with Herbert? 

So it goes for a team sitting 32nd in the rankings and first in the draft order. If nothing else, every day should be pretty interesting for Chargers fans…once the season ends. 

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