Oh. Was There a Game On?

Nice catch, Vincent. Too bad it wasn't in a game or anything.

I've reached a difficult dilemma this week. The Chargers (may or may not have) looked really good this week. But if I write that, I might be jinxing them. So now it's time for a completely hypothetical game recap. Stick with me here...

Let's just say there was a game this week between the Chargers and some team wearing orange and black. Just for the sake of this story, we'll call them the Cincinnati Bengals. Stupid, right? I mean, there's no Bengal tigers in Ohio. Dumb name. Just a really pointless thing to name an NFL team.

But moving on, let's say that in this hypothetical game the Chargers were able to slow down one of the better power runners in the game - call him Bedric Censon - and hold him to 53 yards on 15 carries, a 3.5 average yards per carry. This would be well below the Chargers season average and would represent a marked improvement in the Chargers front seven. Would you be impressed by this? I would too.

Let's also say that a somewhat slumping Vincent Jackson broke out of said slump to the tune of 108 yards and 2 touchdowns. Also, please allow me to say that he hypothetically did this against two of the better corners in the League, who we will call Heon Lall and Jonathan Joseph (crap). I would be very encouraged by this development, and would regain confidence in the Chargers' excellent receiving corp, which had been completely carried in recent weeks by Antonio Gates.

Also, in this game that does not exist, why don't we also say that the Chargers corners gave up some big plays in the middle of the field, but consistently came up with big stops in the red zone, holding the Bengals potent passing offense to just one touchdown in four red zone visits. Couple that with two sacks of quarterback Parson Calmer and consistent pressure, forcing him out of the pocket and into two interceptions and another two passes that should have been picked, and you have a very good hypothetical day for the Chargers pass defense.

So all in all, if this game actually happened, I would be very encouraged. I would certainly like the team's chances in the playoffs, where they might see this same Bengals team again. I would feel very good about all of this. If it actually happened, that is. Which it didn't.

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Denis Poroy