Hopefully, the Los Angeles Chargers have their airline memberships up to date because they’re going to be doing a whole lot of traveling this NFL season. Not only will the Chargers travel the most of any NFL team this season (a record 37,086 miles), it’s also the most for any team in NFL history. In fact, only three MLB teams will travel more than them in 2025.
That record 37,000+ miles is in part thanks to a round trip adventure to Brazil as one of the seven international games this season, according to bookies.com. They’ll reportedly travel across 42 time zones this season as well.
How the Chargers’ travel slate could tank their season
Jim Harbaugh’s squad won’t just be tested on the field, but they’ll have a whole lot of jet lag to deal with. They’ll travel 3,000 miles more than the next NFL team, which is, coincidentally, the other LA team, the Rams. The Chargers are one of three teams that will log more than 30,000 miles this season.
It's one thing to have to travel domestically like that, but to have to travel internationally too is a whole other monster. Take into account jet lag and traveling across timezones, it could spell a whole lot of trouble for Harbaugh's squad.
The last thing the Chargers need this year is another hinderance to them winning a playoff game. They've won just two playoff games since 2008, reaching the playoffs five times during that span. The last two seasons have just been miserable outcomes.
I guess a silver lining for the Chargers is they will be battle tested and true road warriors this year. When the full NFL schedule releases on Wednesday, we will know just how tough of a schedule the Chargers will have. Though having to travel upwards of 30,000 miles isn't a recipe for success.
When you look at last year, of the 10 NFL teams that traveled the most, only four of them made the playoffs. The Chargers were the NFL's most traveled team last year with 26,803 miles and they reached the playoffs. The Green Bay Packers were the 10th most, the Philadelphia Eagles were the eighth most, winning a Super Bowl and the Los Angeles Rams were the sixth most.
So there's no direct correlation between having the most miles traveled and it not translating to wins. That said, of the teams that didn't make the playoffs that were the most traveled, all of them ending up with a draft pick inside the top 15.
The Chargers having to travel 10,000 miles more in 2025 than they did in 2024 isn't ideal. But it could mean if they end up being a playoff team, they will have no problem playing on the road.