The Los Angeles Chargers feel like the Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks

The Los Angeles Chargers are creating something special on both sides of the ball and might have a path similar to a former Super Bowl Champion.

The Los Angeles Chargers were one of the most exciting teams in the National Football League last season and gave NFL fans some of the most entertaining games of the year. LA’s comeback wins on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs in primetime were two of the best games of the year.

The Chargers lived up to all of the hype prior to the season and finished with a strong 12-4 record. Despite being the fifth seed in the AFC side of the playoffs, the Chargers shared the best record in the AFC with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Los Angeles was so successful due to an offense that had weapons everywhere and a defense that was young, hungry and talented. It was the defense that went in and out-Ravened the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Wild Card round to advance to the Divisional Round.

More from LA Sports Hub

• Lakers: 5 Players to Target Through Trades to make another championship run
• LA Chargers: Week 8 against Denver Broncos is a must-win
• LA Rams: Jared Goff wants to keep the Los Angeles title streak going
• Lakers Rumors: Los Angeles Clippers interested in Rajon Rondo
• LA Chargers: Justin Herbert wins AFC Rookie of the Month

However, it was the defense and the inability for defensive coordinator Gus Bradley to make changes that led to the New England Patriots being able to pick apart the inexperienced Chargers team.

The Chargers are going to learn from that and if anything can learn from a team that Bradley used to be the defensive coordinator for… the Seattle Seahawks. In particular, the Legion of Boom Seahawks.

The Legion of Boom era started in Seattle in 2011 and lasted up until the 2017-2018 season, although the playoff run lasted until the 2016-2017 season. Bradley was the defensive coordinator for the Seahawks from 2009-2012.

What made the Seahawks so special, and where they gained their moniker in the first place, was an elite ball-hawking defense that made even the best offenses stumble (see: Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos).

The team also had a young, talented quarterback that was surrounded by weapons in Russell Wilson. While Philip Rivers is no young, mobile quarterback, he is one of the best quarterbacks in the league and has even more weapons than Wilson had during his Super Bowl run.

Just look at who the Los Angeles Chargers have compared to who the Seahawks had. The team has All-Pros in Derwin James and Desmond King at safety and corner, respectively, while Adrian Phillips was an All-Pro in special teams and played a swiss-army knife type role on the defense.

Seattle’s core on defense consisted of All-Pros Kam Chancellor, Earl Thomas and Richard Sherman. All ballhawks in the secondary — doesn’t that sound familiar? This Chargers team has that, has it in young players and has an even better pass rush than that Seahawks team did.

They have the same defensive coordinator and with the draft selection of Nasir Adderley, have hopefully filled the only hole in the secondary, which was Jahleel Addae. Let’s not forget that the Chargers also have Casey Hayward and Trevor Williams, who both would be the best corner on a third of the league.

They are just as young as hungry and have a similar path as that Legion of Boom team. You could say that this current group of guys’ first run game in the 2017-2018 season, where they narrowly missed the playoffs with a 9-7 record.

The Legion of Boom missed the playoffs with a 7-9 record in 2011, although they were not as close as the Chargers. However, in the year following the Seahawks went 11-5 and lost in the Divisional Round after a 10-point victory in the Wild Card Round.

In 2018, the Chargers went 12-4 and lost in the Divisional Round after a seven-point victory in the Wild Card Round.

What did the Seahawks do the following year? They went 13-3 and won the Super Bowl. What will the Chargers do? We have to wait and see.

The two teams are different in some ways, though, but are similar although being different, if that contradiction makes sense. The Seahawks have the best home-field advantage in the NFL, while the Chargers have the worst.

However, whereas the Seahawks looked unbeatable at home, the Chargers were unbeatable outside of Los Angeles. Having no real home crowd has taken off the edge of playing in hostile environments and the only road loss the Chargers had in 2018 was a road loss to the Los Angeles Rams.

If we count the Los Angeles Chargers’ game in London against the Tennessee Titans, the team was a perfect 8-0 outside of Los Angeles during the regular season. It might be weird, but it is a trend nonetheless.