Are Chargers Super?

You hear it on the radio. You hear it on television. You hear it all over town.

People are saying what the Chargers do during the regular season doesn’t matter. What matters is what they do in the playoffs.

Hold on a second!

There is no guarantee this very talented team will make the playoffs in 2007.

The last time the Chargers were coming off an AFC West championship season, they went 9-7 in 2005 and didn’t even make the playoffs. So much for January.

Granted, this team is certainly right there with New England and Indianapolis as far as being a favorite to win the Super Bowl.

But the change at the top could cause some concern.

Marty Schottenheimer turned bad teams around, won in the regular season and couldn’t win a playoff game to save his life.

Norv Turner comes in with a head coaching track record of not even making the playoffs.

We’ll see.

General Manager A.J. Smith has definitely turned this team around with his maneuvering. But we’ll see this season whether the 35-13 regular season record over the past three years was because of him or Schottenheimer.

The Chargers may have shot themselves in the foot by letting go their big playmaker on defense, linebacker Donnie Edwards. Now with Kansas City, Edwards is not too fond of Smith.

“We had something great going there,” he told the Kansas City Star. “But egos destroyed it. Well, not egos. Ego.”

The season will determine if Smith’s ego got in the way of the 2007 season … or whether the Chargers can go all the way because of him.

When the Chargers open the season Sunday at home against Chicago, they will face a Bears team that went all the way to the last Super Bowl.

“It’s very special,” LaDainian Tomlinson said. “It’s a big game starting off the bat to play a team like Chicago.”

Prediction: Chargers 23, Bears 20

Here are predicted standings for the NFL season:

AFC West
Denver
San Diego
Oakland
Kansas City

AFC East
New England
New York
Miami
Buffalo

AFC North
Cincinnati
Baltimore
Pittsburgh
Cleveland

AFC South
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee
Houston

NFC West
Seattle
Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco

NFC East
Dallas
Philadelphia
Washington
New York

NFC North
Chicago
Detroit
Green Bay
Minnesota

NFC South
Carolina
New Orleans
Tampa Bay
Atlanta

AFC Champion: New England
NFC Champion: Carolina
Super Bowl Champion: New England