Following your Los Angeles Chargers' shockingly respectable last-second loss 24-22 to the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, the Bolts were officially eliminated from playoff contention with a paltry 5-10 record and two games left to play.
So how's Los Angeles faring with national pundits following this ultimately doomed performance?
Eric Edholm of NFL.com bumps Buffalo up a spot following its win, while keeping LA dead even with its ranking of No. 27 last week:
"There still can be interesting developments in lost seasons, and the reduced role of Derwin James in Saturday's tight loss to Buffalo certainly opened my eyes. In essence, he was a nickel corner in the game, taking only a few snaps at safety and playing just 40 of the 52 defensive snaps," Edholm writes in part.
Frank Schwab of Yahoo Sports, meanwhile, promotes the Chargers up a peg, from No. 28 to No. 27.
"It was good for the Chargers to compete like they did against the Bills, even in a loss," Schwab opines. "You don't want to finish the season being that team, the one that doesn't show up for the final month. That makes for a long offseason and (more) people lose their jobs that way."
Similarly, Mike Florio of NBC Sports is also impressed with how LA performed over the weekend. He moves the Bolts up three spots, from the absolute nadir of the list, No. 32, all the way up to a still-bad No. 29.
"Interim coach Giff Smith deserves credit for making chicken salad out of last week’s 63-point disaster," Florio writes.
Here's our roundup of Week 16's national power rankings, if you're curious.
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