DENVER -- Philip Rivers is always going to bet on himself.

Even at 3-5 and three games out of first place in the AFC West, Rivers likes where the San Diego Chargers sit at the midpoint of this season.

And Rivers has a point. The Chargers have back-to-back home games against beatable opponents with the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins coming to town before the team’s bye week.

After the bye, the Chargers hit the road to take on the Houston Texans and then host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Chargers appear to have some beatable teams on the upcoming schedule and Philip Rivers is confident the season is not yet lost. Dustin Bradford/Getty Images

Rivers understands you can never assume wins in the NFL, but San Diego’s schedule definitely softens over the next month. And for Rivers and his young team, that’s reason for optimism, along with the fact that the Chargers won two out of their past three games, including a big win on the road against the Atlanta Falcons and splitting the season series with the defending champion Denver Broncos.

“I’m fired up,” Rivers said. “We have two at home to get to 5-5, and then we get the bye and we go -- we have a six-game season.”

Rivers compared this year to San Diego’s 2007 season, when the Chargers started off 4-4, and then won seven of their last eight games to make the playoffs, losing in the AFC Championship Game on the road against the New England Patriots 21-12.

“This feels a little bit like our 2007 season to me,” Rivers said. “I don’t think we’re nearly as healthy as we were in 2007 at this point in the year considering all of the injuries that we got today, but it feels a little bit like that.

“We hem-hawed around and found a way to get to 5-5 and never looked back. I believe we can win every game, but I removed myself from being quarterback and looked at the three-game stretch we just finished. I said, ‘We have to get two out of three’ and we did when probably most picked us to lose all three.

“Shoot, we beat the odds there and we’re going to go home and win two and get to 5-5. I can’t wait.”

Yes, Rivers is always confident, but some of that bravado comes from the way San Diego’s defense is playing. The Chargers have done a nice job of keeping offenses out of the end zone and creating turnovers.

It’s the kind of complementary football the Chargers are hoping to build on during the second half of the 2016 season.

The Chargers held Denver’s offense to just 20 points, as Rivers threw a pick-six to cornerback Bradley Roby, and forced three Denver turnovers. San Diego has given up 23 points a game, forced six turnovers and held offenses to 90 rushing yards a contest over the past three games, winning two of those.

“We pride ourselves on that,” Chargers defensive co-captain Melvin Ingram said about his group’s effort against the Broncos. “We go out every day and grind, grind, grind. We want to be known as one of the best defenses in the league and those are the things you have to do to be known as one.”