Los Angeles Chargers vs Indianapolis Colts
In a battle of older AFC teams, it’s always an entertaining match when the Los Angeles Chargers and Indianapolis Colts are on the schedule. In a series dating back to 1970, LA and Indy have played almost 30 games against each other, including three in the postseason. It’s a matchup with great quarterbacks such as Dan Fouts, Philip Rivers, and Peyton Manning. Don’t forget, this is a matchup with money all over it so continue reading to see how to get the best bang for your buck on your wager for this game.
The Matchup
The first game between the teams was played back in 1970 which would be a very hard-fought 16-14 victory for the Colts, who were in Baltimore then. There was a time from the 1980s until the 2000s that the teams played rather frequently, sometimes once every year or two, but that died down after the 2002 realignment, which makes them play each other every three years now. Rivers had a 4-2 record versus the Colts during his career with the Chargers while Manning fared even better than his adversary, going 10-4 against the Chargers over his career.
Perhaps the most memorable game of this series was the 2007 AFC Divisional Playoff game which produced a fantastic game between Rivers and Manning with both combining to throw six touchdowns in a game the Chargers would prevail in as they scored on a go-ahead one-yard TD run by Billy Volek with just under five minutes to go. They would play again the following year in a 2008 NFL Wild Card game but it would be similar results with the Chargers winning 23-17 in overtime.
Odds and Ends
Diving into the numbers a bit more and LA has scored a grand total of 717 points over thirty games from 1970 until 2019 with an average of 23.9 points a game compared to the Colts’ 549 points overall and 18.3 points per contest. The Chargers have a pretty big edge over that stretch with a 19-11 record that includes a wonderful 12-4 record on the road although they’re only 7-7 at home during that time.
The series didn’t start to get closer in the average margin of victory until the 2000s as the winning team won by an average of 16.8 points a contest over seven games from 1992 to 1997 whereas six games from 2004 to 2009 had an average margin of victory of only 4.5 points. In nine games from 1992 until 2004, the teams combined to average 44.7 points a contest while the next nine games from 2005 until 2019 only averaged 39.3 points a game combined.
Why You Should Bet on This Game
Why the heck not? You’ve got great information to roll with now and we’re going to give you even more with a look at the betting numbers. When wagering on this matchup, start with the Chargers as they’re 17-7-1 against the spread over 25 games dating back to 1984 while the over/under has gone 10-14-1. In 10 games from 2004 until 2019, the Chargers are 7-2-1 ATS including 4-1 on the road and 2-2-1 at home. In 19 games from 1992 to 2019, the Chargers are 14-4-1 ATS. As for the totals, the over hasn’t done well since it went 4-0 from 1995 to 1997 but in eight games from 2005 to 2019 it only went 2-6-1.
Now that you have the resources to make a winning bet, good luck on the game!