Chargers have real shot to win it all, finally

It is possible the Chargers saved the best for last.

Come the first Sunday in February, we might not know whether to raise a toast or cry in our beer. Maybe we’ll do both.

It’s not preposterous to believe we could get the opportunity to find out.

We’re three days into training camp, so this isn’t a prediction.

What it is, is the best perspective that can be gleaned at this point. It’s a spectrum of possibility. It is legitimate hope, and it is prudent realism.

The Chargers, in what may well be their final season in San Diego, can be a good team. A playoff team. A Super Bowl team.

We’re not saying they are a good team because, well, we know better. Fool us once, shame on you. Fool us a few dozen times, shame on us.

We’ve seen promise unravel, at various times, in a steaming pile of historically bad special teams, seemingly infectious injuries, ridiculous penalties, overconfidence and Marlon McCree.

But, really, this Chargers team has the potential to be what no Chargers team has ever been before.

The reasons begin with Philip Rivers, a Super Bowl-caliber quarterback, who appears to have protection in front of him and weapons around him.

The Chargers were a healthy running back from making the playoffs last season – rickety offensive line notwithstanding. To that end, Danny Woodhead, a spark in the 2013 offensive resurgence, is back after missing the final 13 games of last season. Rookie Melvin Gordon appears to be all a running back drafted 15th overall should be.

That’s huge. As huge as the offensive line, which added 6-foot-7, 340-pound guard Orlando Franklin to play next to 6-foot-9, 330-pound King Dunlap. Beyond their size, this duo appears close to a lock to comprise the best left side of a Chargers line since Oct. 23, 2011, the last career game for both Marcus McNeill and Kris Dielman.

There is no true No.1 wideout, but such a luxury is rare. There is enough, with Keenan Allen’s flashes of brilliance, Malcom Floyd’s penchant for the spectacular and the seemingly dependable diversity of free agent Stevie Johnson.

Those are not stretches.

You have to take a more purposely rosy view to believe the Chargers have a championship defense.

There is real upside, but there are bigger questions. And disappointment has made us reluctant to buy stock in “ifs” any longer.

We must see Melvin Ingram play at a high level for a full season before we believe it’s possible. Same with fellow outside linebacker Jerry Attaochu. They’ve shown they can be game changers. They have yet to do it enough to affect a season.

The inside linebacker rotation might just be headed in the right direction. If Donald Butler plays like he did in 2012 and ’13 and Manti Te’o builds off last December, there will be plays made in the middle of the field. Again, about the “ifs.”

The linebackers would be even better were Corey Liuget not the only consistently domineering defensive lineman.

The young and deep secondary isn’t thoroughly elite, but free safety Eric Weddle makes up for a lot of deficiencies on defense. Brandon Flowers is a legitimate presence, and Jason Verrett is already on his way to being a cornerback who isn’t thrown at.

Now, there is, especially with the Chargers for a number of years running, the concern that injuries will somehow somewhere create a sinkhole.

But maybe not. Maybe this is the year.

Just know we have ample reason to hope. And we should hope.

As someone who makes a living when the storytelling is good, it wouldn’t get much richer than a team winning a title on its way out of town.

Sure, the Chargers leaving San Diego with the ultimate parting gift would be a little like receiving a kick in the stomach on Christmas morning.

But at least we could say our town and our team won a title. Finally.