NFL power rankings, Week 12: Falcons soar, Texans tumble

San Diego Chargers. 17. team. 13. Every game has pretty much been a struggle for the Chargers this season. But don’t be fooled by the eight-point margin of victory this week. San Diego looked like the better team all afternoon against a Houston team that was more than happy to give up the football on four occasions. Last season, the Bolts managed only 20 takeaways in 16 games. In 2016, the club has already forced 23 turnovers. Despite one interception, Philip Rivers connected on better than 70 percent of his passes (22-of-30) for 242 yards and three scores. And while the Chargers ran for only 67 yards, the offensive line kept their quarterback pretty clean – allowing only one sack in the contest. <p>Next Week: The Chargers can get back to the .500 mark next week with a win. But it won’t be easy against a rejuvenated bunch of Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dirk Koetter’s squad has won three straight and is 5-2 in its last seven outings. And Jameis Winston and company come off consecutive victories over the Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks.</p> <p>Playoff hopes: They are still pretty thin. But you can’t knock a team for trying. All told, the Chargers have now surpassed their win total of 2015 and have to be feeling pretty good about the fact that their two road wins this season have come against division leaders Atlanta and Houston. But the Bolts will need a lot of help getting to the postseason.</p>. 5-6. Previous: