Every year, it seems, there is that NFL team, the one that the pundits latch onto in order to look like the smartest guys in the room. Usually, it comes from out of nowhere, or at least the fringe of nowhere, to become a trendy pick to win a championship or at least make noise in the postseason.

That team, this year, is the Chargers. Is it warranted?

The selling points: Two seasons of excellence from Justin Herbert and the assumption that his career continues to trend upward. The anticipated progress of Brandon Staley in his second season as a head coach, even with his penchant for taking risks – risks that might have cost the team a couple of games and by extension a playoff spot, but also were designed to instill a sense of fearlessness in a team still finding its way.

And a defense that is significantly more competent than a year ago, with the additions of Khalil Mack, J.C. Jackson, Kyle Van Noy and Sebastian Joseph-Day – the latter three with Super Bowl pedigrees – to go with holdover Pro Bowl performers Derwin James Jr. and Joey Bosa.

A year ago in This Space, we pondered the possibility of an all-L.A. Super Bowl in Inglewood. Only half of that came to pass, and the evidence is in the rafters of SoFi Stadium – ironically, overlooking the side where the Chargers’ bench is. Will the Chargers do with the Rams’ banners what the Clippers have done with the Lakers’ banners and design something to cover them up on home game days?

Or would it be better to win their own and place it so it overlooks the Rams’ bench?

The first test comes Sunday, and I’m sure we’ll again hear that old trope about playing on the road in their home stadium. But since this is the shortest commute of the season for the SoCal chapter of Raider Nation, is it really worth yammering about?

After all, last year’s Chargers-Raiders game in Inglewood was a rousing good time for the home team, with the team’s video board and social media crews relishing all of those shots of Raider fans leaving early as the Chargers were putting the finishing touches on a 28-14 victory.

Last laughs can be fleeting, of course, and the Raiders got theirs on the final night of the regular season when Daniel Carlson’s 47-yard field goal in overtime knocked the Chargers out of the playoffs. But maybe that memory fueled players, coaches, executives and even support staff in the eight months leading up to this season.

We doubt the Chargers will be sneaking up on anyone. Herbert goes into this season with off-the-charts expectations, and that possibly was part of his fuel. It should be heartening that he has responded by working even harder and exercising more leadership, and not only with his own unit.

“He’s just a lot more present with a lot more different types of groups within the team,” Staley told reporters recently. “Specifically, on offense, he’s been able to really insert himself into the skill position players, with the line, and then, with the coaching staff, time and score situation. Then you see him interact with the defense and the specialists.

“When you’re in a second year of something (as in Staley’s system), you just have a lot more confidence. Within our offense, he’s able to make suggestions, or he’s able to ask key questions that can really help take us to where we’re capable of going.”

Further proof? All of those post-practice sessions in training camp, with Herbert staying after the final whistle to throw, throw and throw some more.

“I don’t know,” receiver Keenan Allen mused a few weeks ago. “Philip (Rivers) never stayed after practice to throw the ball. Philip put in the work, but this guy is out here like an hour-and-a-half after, just throwing the same route over and over and over. If there is not a spiral, he’ll just keep throwing the same one.”

Herbert’s rationale:

“I need to be the best quarterback that I can be. I go after practice, and if I miss any throws that day, it’s important to me to figure them out. … As a quarterback, I need to be at my best for these guys. If I let them down during practice, I need to stay out after practice and work and continue to be the best I can be for those guys. It means a lot to have those guys out there catching for me and being around because it’s all of us together.”

That’s leadership.

Of course, Chargers teams have had expectations before and failed to meet them. The sins, failings, and all-around bad luck of this franchise through the years in San Diego and L.A. have created an eerie history that has been ultimately unsatisfying at the end of each year.

But that whole business of “Charger-ing,” or snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, should have nothing to do with 2022 (aside from maybe a hard lesson or two for Staley from that finale in Las Vegas.)

Division championship? They’re certainly capable. In the gunslinger’s division that is the AFC West, Herbert has shown he can sling it with anyone, even (or especially) Patrick Mahomes, Derek Carr and Russell Wilson.

AFC championship? Buffalo will have something to say about it, as we were reminded on Thursday night. But if the Chargers can get to that championship game – and, notably, if they can play well enough through the season to keep it from being played in, say, upstate New York in January – why not?

A Super Bowl championship?

Earlier in training camp, an inquisitor noted that Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had flatly predicted his team would win the World Series, and asked Staley if he’d care to go out on that limb.

The coach might be a risk-taker, but he’s not insane. He passed.

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So it will be left to others. Buffalo is the consensus favorite followed by Tampa Bay, but the Chargers are in a group that includes the Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, Rams, San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens. Theirs isn’t a cushy schedule, but 12-5 isn’t inconceivable, 13-4 is possible, and not making the playoffs would and should be bitterly disappointing.

And as hard as it is to envision with the background of all those years and all that misery, it’s not inconceivable that the Chargers could be the last team standing.

If that happens, can we retire the verb “to Charger” forever?

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