The Los Angeles Chargers are back above .500 on the season after taking down the Dolphins on Sunday night, 23-17. With Jon’s expertise having us take the Chargers at +4.5 they cashed in for us with the win as an outright underdog.

L.A. enjoyed an excellent first half that allowed them to jump out to a 10-point lead. Justin Herbert missed only five of his 29 throws through the opening two quarters and the offense had outgained Miami by nearly 200 yards. As the Chargers were moving the ball with relative ease, Miami’s offense was a different story entirely. The disruption in rhythm between Tua Tagovailoa and his receivers that we saw last week against the 49ers carried over into this game. Tua was only able to complete three passes in the first half and the lack luster offense had only 55 yards of total offense.

Despite those first-half struggles, Tyreek Hill with a little bit of luck was able to get them on the board thanks to a wild fumble recovery that he returned 57 yards for a touchdown. In the second half, Hill also had a 60-yard touchdown catch to cut the lead to three. However Herbert and the Chargers were then able to go on two field goal drives and that was enough to keep a Dolphins comeback at arms length.

Herbert finished 39 of 51 for 367 yards and a touchdown. Mike Williams led the team with 116 yards receiving, but Keenan Allen saw the most volume, catching 12 of his 14 targets for 92 yards. Meanwhile, a struggling Tua was 10 of 28 for 145 yards and a touchdown.

This Chargers win momentarily moves them inside the playoff picture in the AFC as the No. 7 seed. That said, if the Patriots take down the Cardinals on Monday night, they would leapfrog the Chargers to grab ahold of that playoff spot. However it shakes out following the conclusion of Week 14, it’ll certainly be an all out sprint to the finish and L.A. has firmly put itself in that conversation. Meanwhile, Miami remains the No. 6 seed.

.