Bolts From The Blue
After the expectation that rookie running back Omarion Hampton would make his return to the lineup following the Week 12 bye, he was a late scratch at the end of the week following a week full of being limited in practice. While fans may have been bummed out about that decision, the Chargers did not need their lead back to dominate the Raiders on Sunday.
Now, with an extra week of prep and rehab, it looks like Hampton is set to make his return against the reigning Super Bowl champions. The Chargers host the Eagles on Monday Night Football with Philly coming off a two-game skid against the Cowboys (blown 21-point lead) and the Bears on Black Friday.
This might be a chance to see if both Hampton and Kimani Vidal can somewhat imitate the monstrous rushing performance Chicago put on the Eagles when both D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai each rushed for over 100 yards en route to a convincing victory.
Now the Bears objectively have a better offensive line than the Chargers do right now. That group is led by a strong interior trio that head coach Ben Johnson signed this past offseason. The Chargers…well…they didn’t invest all that much into the interior blocking/protection and their lone signing there hasn’t exactly panned out.
Still, Vidal has been productive enough behind several different offensive line combinations while Hampton showed the ability to churn out the tough yards no matter who was blocking in front of him.
Either way, the Chargers have to come ready to fight and claw, regardless of the narratives surrounding the Eagles as of late.
