London Chargers rumors opens up AFC West possibilities for Houston Texans

The Kansas City Chiefs might be playing in a newly aligned AFC West that swaps out the L.A. Chargers for the Houston Texans.

Some of us are still getting used to referencing the Los Angeles Chargers after the franchise was based in San Diego from 1961 to 2016. It turns out that we might have to get used to something else soon enough.

On Monday night, Vincent Bonsignore of The Athletic reported that the National Football League has floated the idea of relocating the Chargers to London and that the Chargers, as a franchise, are open to such discussion.

All of this is entirely preliminary, of course, and even this rumor was likely given to Bonsignore to test what fans and media think of the idea—a test balloon of sorts. Bonsignore’s reporting was excellent with careful construction around what has been discussed and what obstacles remain. However, the door is wider than you might initially believe (and the whole report is worth a read).

Within the column, Bonsignore also indicates that the movement of the Chargers to London would force the AFC to realign, likely putting the Houston Texans into the AFC West as the London Chargers would hit the AFC East and other reshuffling would occur.

The newly reformed AFC West would be a very interesting division for the Kansas City Chiefs for a number of reasons, both for better or worse.

• The Bolts have been a rival for many, many years and the shifting of the division would take some getting used to. Any shift in such “hated rivals” would take some adjustments—or at least until the first loss to any such new team before we learn to hate them.
• The Chiefs were originally known as the Texans in their earliest AFL Days (although the franchise’s location was Dallas and not Houston), which could create some interesting historical notes.
• In the short-term, the idea of Deshaun Watson vs. Patrick Mahomes is as exciting as a divisional matchup can get over the years. Picture Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in the same division and you could understand the hype.

It’s impossible to tell how competitive a team will be from year to year, and it’s also hard to tell how long such a move might take. Thus it feels weird to try to predict how any division might turn out with the Chargers addition (the East) or the Texans gain (the West). That said, it would force the Raiders, Broncos and Chiefs fan bases to get used to a new rival after decades of referring to the “Dolts.”

As a general NFL fan, it would also be interesting to watch such an international experiment take place. It’s one thing for a team to visit London. It’s another thing entirely for a general manager to convince free agents to sign there or deal with the constant travel woes.

Perhaps none of this will ever get off the ground. That’s fine, if not. We’re used to hating the Chargers and there’s no reason to stop anytime soon. But if this move ends up happening, Chiefs Kingdom will just have to make up a nickname for our newest enemies in Houston. Changes come, but some traditions will remain in place.