Despite going on a 10-game win streak and finishing the regular season with a 14-3 record, which earned them the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs, nearly everyone outside New England was not jumping on the Patriots bandwagon ahead of their wild-card game, with most analysts still doubting their legitimacy as a Super Bowl contender.
That seemingly fueled a team like the Chargers to rest their starters in Week 18 in hopes of playing the Patriots in the first round. It seemed like the Bills were also trying to accomplish that, but the Jets are such a bad team that it was nearly impossible for them to beat Buffalo, even without Josh Allen and other starters on the field.
The Chargers got what they wished for and traveled to Foxborough for the wild-card round, assuming that they were going to be their easiest competition to keep their path open for the Super Bowl, but they got a lot more than they bargained for on Sunday night, making their plan completely backfire in the most brutal way possible.
Perhaps the Patriots knew about it and that gave them the boost.
The Chargers are seriously regretting their failed Week 18 plan after losing to the Patriots
Since the NFL's inception, teams have sought to manipulate situations in their favor, particularly when it comes to who they'll face in the playoffs or who they'll draft.
The Chargers look to have done that by resting most of their starters in their season finale game against the Broncos, who locked up the No. 1 seed with the win. LA could have easily burst that bubble by actually being competitive, but instead appeared so focused on their goal of playing New England that they didn't care about anything else.
Unfortunately for them, that idea was ill-informed, and assuming the Patriots were the easiest team to take down was quickly proven to be a giant mistake.
The defense played some of its best football of the season and shut down QB Justin Herbert in a way we haven't seen much this year. Not only were they stellar in the red zone, but they also forced a turnover on downs multiple times, proving even further that they were in their bag on Sunday night.
That's certainly not something the Chargers were prepared for, and they didn't consider it when they seemed to be planning to forfeit their Week 18 game. Hopefully, the Patriots can bring that same energy no matter who they face next week.