Mark Cannizzaro of the New York post believes the Chargers are an NFL juggernaut and are being ignored around the league. Juggernaut is high praise. When talking about the NFL’s elite, the common theme seems to be the Rams, Patriots, Chiefs, and Saints. Each of those teams has shown they are the cream of the crop. Cannizzaro says just because the people in Los Angeles haven’t noticed they play there, doesn’t mean the rest of the country should ignore them.

Perhaps a reason no one has taken the Chargers seriously as one of the league’s top teams is the fact they’ve been beating up on the league’s weaklings for the last month. The Chargers’ four consecutive wins have come against the 49ers (who are 1-6), the Raiders (1-5), the Browns (2-4-1) and the Titans (3-4). That is a combined record of 7-19. So fair enough if you’re waiting to anoint them. If that’s your criteria, however, you might be waiting for more than another month considering the Chargers’ next four opponents — the Seahawks (3-3), Raiders, Broncos (3-4) and Cardinals (1-6), a group that owns a combined record of 8-18.

It’s not the Chargers’ fault the teams on their schedule have not been successful. All they can do at this point is win. That’s what they’ve done. Philip Rivers is playing out of his mind and is a legit MVP candidate. The running game is strong as ever with Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler, and the Chargers are getting contributions from everywhere.

The Chargers are 5-2 and are sitting pretty headed into their bye week. It’d be a surprise if they did not make the playoffs. Like Bill Parcells said, “you are what your record says you are.” That makes the team one of the best in the NFL.