How the Los Angeles Chargers can make it to Super Bowl LIII

3. Stay healthy

Well, duh.

For the most part, though, the Los Angeles Chargers were as healthy as they have been in recent years. Keenan Allen returned after missing an entire season to play all 16 games, showing his huge impact. He started off sluggish, but as the year went on and Allen got hot, so did the Chargers.

Melvin Gordon played all 16 games, the two-headed dragon of Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram didn’t miss a game and, of course, Philip Rivers continued his streak of consistency.

That does not mean that the Chargers did not have significant injuries when they did occur. The two biggest blows to the Chargers were cornerback Jason Verrett, second-round draft pick Forrest Lamp and first-round pick Mike Williams.

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Verrett would have been the one missing piece in the Chargers’ secondary that arguably could have given them the best defense in the league. If he played at his best, his partnership with Casey Hayward would have been impossible to beat with the Chargers’ scary pass rush.

Lamp was a second-round pick that should have been a first-round pick and was going to play a massive role in the offensive line. While the Chargers’ offensive line was far better than past years, his talent and size would have been huge early on and could have changed the Chargers’ 0-4 start.

As for Williams, his injury did not make the Chargers skip a beat however it did ruin their depth plans at receiver. With the two Williams’ hopefully returning to full swing next year, the Chargers have a scary deep receiving core that allows them to stagger snaps and keep everyone fresh.

That is the perfect formula to stay healthy. It is hard to remain perfectly healthy, it really is out of the team’s control. However, with depth practically at every position, the Chargers must be smart in how they use their player. Not only keep them fresh, but keep them on the field when they need it most.

Next: Our first Chargers' mock draft

This team is definitely talented enough. As Anthony Lynn got the swing of things, the Chargers became very hard to beat. Now, it is just a matter of keeping those puzzle pieces glued together.