St. Louis Rams at San Diego Chargers (-4.5)
At this point, would it shock anybody if the Rams beat yet another team with a winning record? It seems as if St. Louis, 4-6 on the season, only plays its best brand of football when placed in an impossible situation. Entering Week 11, two of their previous four games had featured wins against the Seahawks and 49ers. These were definitely impressive victories, but division games tend to provide a more unpredictable outcome. When the Rams then went on to beat the AFC West leading Denver Broncos, there was no such explanation of the upset. The Rams simply outperformed their opponents from Denver.
Just like when St. Louis traveled to Arizona after its upset win in San Francisco, the Rams’ moment has passed and they will now descend back down to earth.
San Diego returned from their bye week to end its three-game losing streak with a touchdown victory over their rivals from Oakland in Week 11. The Chargers didn’t look dominant – at least, not as dominant as they had appeared after opening their season 5-1 – but got back in the win column and now aim to build some momentum going into the home stretch of the season. Had the Rams not caught everyone’s attention for the third time in five weeks, the Chargers could have easily overlooked them. Instead, St. Louis will face a Chargers team on high alert and desperate for a win in a division race that may have already passed them by.
Chargers win by two touchdowns and beat the spread.
