There are quite a few heated rivalries in the NFL, some of which lose their luster as time rolls on and one team continues to stay dominant and the other one slips into mediocrity, but a small few of these heated NFL rivalries stay competitive over the years regardless of how good either team may be.

One of these heated rivalries is basically an entire division in the AFC West. Whenever any of the teams in the AFC West meet, no matter what the standings say, it is must see game as the passion absolutely bleeds out there on the gridiron.

We are up to week six no in the NFL season and we have already had one very competitive AFC West game which took place in week one when the Oakland Raiders gave the San Diego Chargers a run for their money in the bay area. The Chargers came out victorious in that game despite losing the majority of the game, but they will definitely have their work cut out for them this week when they take on another division rival in the undefeated Denver Broncos.

Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers

The Broncos have obviously been the talk of the season so far as they have managed to stay unbeaten in the first five weeks of the season after having a nightmare of an offseason filled with turmoil between players, coaches and the organization as a whole.

New head coach Josh McDaniels has been making headlines all season long for being able to turn around the franchise after such a miserable offseason, but he put himself on the map last week when he beat his old team in the New England Patriots in overtime.

The Patriots game was his biggest test yet, but his Monday night game against the San Diego Chargers has division and playoff implications and is basically a must win for the Denver Broncos.

The passing and running game is working for the Broncos, which is a surprise with a rookie running back in Knowshon Moreno and quarterback Kyle Orton, but the biggest surprise of the season for the Broncos has been the impressive play of the Denver defense which was arguably the worst in the league last season.

The Chargers on the other hand have had a pretty rocky year ever since coming into the season as the favorite to win it all by a lot of NFL analysts and fans.

San Diego is a disappointing 2-2 this season with losses against two good teams this season in the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers. If the Chargers want to continue to get Super Bowl contender status this season they need to make a serious turn around and a win over the undefeated Denver Broncos would definitely do that.

Along with no exactly living up to expectations this season the Chargers have also struggled with the health of running back LaDainian Tomlinson who claimed this would be statement season for him. Fortunately backup Darren Sproles has played well, but the offense has not been able to play well enough to overcome their problems on defense.

As of right now I believe the Denver Broncos will be way too much for the San Diego Chargers to handle, but if the Chargers offense can get it going early they will be able to keep the Denver defense on their heels. Unfortunately for San Diego I don’t see this happening because the Broncos are riding high right now with a lot of confidence on both sides of the football. This game has the potential to be a shootout, but I think the Broncos will come out on top and improve their undefeated record to 6-0.