A fun question from Ed to start us off as we're at the midway point of the 2025 season.
In terms of a 1-10 scale, I think a 7.5 is a fair assessment of Jim Harbaugh's squad. And if we were handing out letter grades, a solid 'B' would be accurate.
Here is what Harbaugh himself said about the Chargers earlier this week when I asked him how he looks at the Bolts entering Week 9.
"Just building and getting healthier, I think that's a big component," Harbaugh said. "Then all the things we're working on football-wise as a team. The situations, complimentary football, reducing turnovers, reducing penalties, precision on offense.
"Really like the way our defense played \[Thursday\]," Harbaugh added. "Big improvement, no explosive plays, stopping the run, all those things. Just chipping away and building at as we go."
The Chargers have endured a bit of a rollercoaster season to date. A 3-0 start (against the AFC West) turned into 3-2 before the Bolts have rattled off wins in two of their past three games.
Harbaugh's last line in that above quote stood out to me the most.
Are the Chargers a perfect team? No.
But have they shown the potential to compete with any team if they play up to their standards? I'd say so.
With Week 9 on the horizon, the goal for the Bolts right now is to stack as many wins as possible while getting a little bit better and better each week.
No team wants to be peaking around Halloween or even Thanksgiving. The mission is to be playing your best ball in December so that you're primed for a potential deep playoff run in January.