Green Bay Packers @ San Diego Chargers Sun. Nov. 6, 2011 4:15 p.m. EST

Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins have been able pull off the perfect season in the NFL, but this year that could change as the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers have gotten off to a perfect start to their title defense with seven straight wins coming into Week 9. With Aaron Rodgers playing the best football of his career and being the frontrunner for the NFL MVP, the Packers’ offense has been second to none this season with the ability to light up the scoreboard on a weekly basis.

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Even though the quest for a perfect season seems to be intact and very possible with the Packers remaining schedule, this week Aaron Rodgers and company will face a tough test when they head to Southern California to take on a desperate San Diego Chargers team looking to get their first win in three weeks.

Every single season the San Diego Chargers are legitimate Super Bowl title contenders with a potent offense and a lockdown defense, but every year this team seems to go through a rough patch. Usually, this rough patch comes at the beginning of the season as the Chargers are infamously slow starters, but this season it has come at the halfway point in the year with San Diego dropping the last two games to the New York Jets (27-21) and the division rival Kansas City Chiefs (23-20 OT).

Aaron Rodgers

Obviously, with just three losses on the season (first loss against New England Patriots, 35-21) the San Diego Chargers still have a legitimate shot to win the AFC West division title and make a run at the Super Bowl, but their schedule doesn’t really get any better from here on out with the undefeated Green Bay Packers (7-0) this week and the division rival Oakland Raiders (4-4) next week on Thursday night.

With that being said, the San Diego Chargers need to get back to form and need to do it now! If Philip Rivers can get back on track against arguably the best team in the league, the Chargers stand a good chance of beating their division rivals next week and taking the top spot in the AFC West division. Currently there is a three-way tie for first place in the AFC West with the Chiefs, Raiders and Chargers all sitting atop the division, but that should change this week with wins and losses.

The San Diego Chargers are definitely capable of pulling off the upset against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers this weekend at Qualcomm Stadium, but with the way Mike McCarthy’s squad is playing at this point in time it will be tough for Norv Turner to bounce back after losing two straight.

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As of right now, the Green Bay Packers are favored to get the win in Week 9 over the San Diego Chargers with a -6 point spread. This spread is surprisingly lower than anticipated, but a solid bet nonetheless.

Take the Packers at -6.

The race for the AFC West division title is officially over as the Kansas City Chiefs were able to wrap up the division title last week with a dominant win over the Tennessee Titans. With that being said, the rest of the AFC West division have absolutely nothing to play for from here on out.

Fortunately, despite being knocked out of playoff contention, the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos will go head-to-head in what could be a very entertaining game. Not only do the Chargers have one of the most potent offenses in the NFL this season, but the Broncos offense is starting to perk up after they put rookie quarterback Tim Tebow under center recently.

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The Denver Broncos may have gotten a lot of criticism for drafting the former Heisman trophy winner during the 2010 NFL Draft, but he has seemed to prove his doubters wrong as of late with some impressive performances both in the air and on the ground.

Tim Tebow is by no means Michael Vick or can even really be compared to the Philadelphia Eagles superstar this season, but he has had similar effects on opposing defenses as they don’t know whether to guard the pass or the run.

Obviously, Tebow still has a lot of work to do with his passing ability, but he is coming off a career high of 308 passing yards. Not only was impressive in last week’s win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he definitely the future of this team as he seems like a born leader and just what the doctor ordered for this struggling NFL franchise.

So without a doubt the one thing to watch for in this game between these two division rivals is Tim Tebow against the San Diego Chargers defense. It’s uncertain what kind of intensity we will see out of the Chargers this week because like I said before they have nothing to play for, but I can almost guarantee that Tebow will be giving it his all as he tries to continue to prove that he can be a starting quarterback in this league.

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As of right now, the San Diego Chargers have been given a -3.5 point spread in their favor. That is a little lower than I thought it would be, but tells you a lot about how much the odds makers are considering Tim Tebow to be a threat for the Denver Broncos in this game.

Personally, I believe the Denver Broncos will come out on top in this one as the San Diego Chargers will be playing in the Mile High City which will almost certainly be extremely cold weather. Not only will the Chargers struggle, but I don’t think they will be able to contain a motivated Tim Tebow.

Over the past decade or so, the AFC West division has been arguably one of the worst divisions in the NFL with three out of the four teams within the division having little or no chance to make the playoffs almost every single season.

Fortunately, teams within the division have started to turn things around this season as the Kansas City Chiefs and the Oakland Raiders have finally become a serious threat to the San Diego Chargers in contention for the AFC West division title.

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Obviously, there is still a lot of football to be played in NFL regular season, but the AFC West division title seems to be up for grabs right now and the Week 13 matchup with the Oakland Raiders travel in the San Diego to take on the red-hot Chargers will be key in determining who comes out on top in this division.

As they always seem to do, the San Diego Chargers got off to another slow start the season as they lost five of their first eight games, but they will head into this AFC West showdown with the Oakland Raiders having won four straight games and coming off a big win over Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

Even though normally the San Diego Chargers run the table AFC West division and dominate their heated division rival Oakland Raiders every single year, this season Tom Cable’s squad was able to get the best of Philip Rivers and company in Week 5 with an impressive 35-27 victory.

After the impressive win over the Chargers, the Raiders started to open eyes around the league as they were considered to be a team on the rise with a solid ground game led by running back Darren McFadden and a defense starting to get back to form as one of the best in the league.

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Unfortunately, the Oakland Raiders have hit a speed bump over the past two weeks of the NFL regular season as they have lost two straight to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Miami Dolphins. The loss to the Steelers was no surprise as Pittsburgh is arguably one of the best teams in the league right now with stifling run defense, but the loss to the Dolphins was a bit of a surprise and got people thinking that the Raiders were starting to slip into their old habits.

As of right now, the San Diego Chargers are favored to come out on top in this AFC West division showdown with a huge point spread in their favor at -12.5, but even though I believe Norv Turner’s squad should win their fifth straight and get some revenge for their Week 5 loss, the Oakland Raiders should make a game of it and take this game down to the wire.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (5-2) at Atlanta (5-2)

Tampa Bay is the current darlings of the NFL. Nobody expected them to have a winning record at this point of the season, much less the way they’re doing it. The Bucs have won majority of their games with fourth-quarter comebacks. Second-year QB Josh Freeman has progressed so quickly that even his own coach is surprised. In fact, Raheem Morris is so confident that he declared that his team is the best in the NFC.

Atlanta is no stranger to fourth quarter comebacks. Tight end Tony Gonzales has been clutch this season.

The Bucs are perfect on the road and the Falcons are perfect at home.

Tampa Bay usually gives Matt Ryan problems.

With Dunta Robinson likely to play, the Falcons should be able to pull off a close win.

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San Diego (3-5) at Houston (4-3)

This is a critical game for the Chargers. Scratch that, this is an important game for coach Norv Turner. If the Chargers lose, this will be Turner’s last season in San Diego. This game will give us any indication that the Chargers are who we thought they are – capable of making a comeback in the second half of the season.

Houston usually plays its best football in the second half. Not a great formula for success because they always fall behind big in the first half.

They’ll be no second-half-of-the-season-comebacks for the Chargers this year.

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Indianapolis (5-2) at Philadelphia (4-3)

The story, of course, is the return of Michael Vick since he injured his ribs. Will he be more of a pocket QB to protect those ribs? With Philadelphia’s weak o-line, Vick will have to revert to running around the field to avoid sacks.

Indianapolis is playing well despite experiencing a slew of injuries. Having Peyton Manning also helps.

The Eagles are ripe for the picking. They allow 22 points a game.