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Every year you’ll hear NFL teams say that their bye week arrived at the perfect time, but for the Chargers, it’s more than just lip service.

“One of the big things that everyone talked about coming into the season was the Chargers are finally healthy,” offensive tackle Marcus McNeill said.  “We came out Week 1 and had a lot of guys get banged up.  We need to get everybody back closer to full strength.” 

During his Monday press conference, Head Coach Norv Turner listed 10 players dealing with some sort of injuries, but he expects most of them to be ready to practice next week when his team resumes their normal routine. 

Health aside, the Chargers get a little extra time to prepare for a critical stretch of their season.  They have two full weeks to prepare for the AFC West-leading Broncos, whom San Diego will face on Monday Night Football following their bye.  Their next three games are against AFC West opponents, and five of their next seven contests come against divisional foes.

“This is a big stretch of our season,” tight end Antonio Gates said.  “We haven’t played as well as we wanted to in some areas, but we’ve got a chance to regroup a little bit, reevaluate what’s going on and try to get on a little roll in these division games.”

Turner said Monday and several of his players echoed Tuesday that 2-2 isn’t where they wanted to be at the season’s quarter mark, and the week off created more time for conversation about Sunday’s loss in Pittsburgh.  It also gives them an extended period of time to look at both the good and the bad from the first quarter of the season and address places where they need to get better. 

“We’re a 2-2 team that’s got a lot of fight and a lot of want to and the right kind of guys to get it back going,” quarterback Philip Rivers said.  “I think we have to be realistic and honest with ourselves know we have areas where we’ve got to improve, but it’s early in the year and we’ve got the right guys to get it going.”

While the bye comes after just four weeks of regular-season play, it’s actually pretty close to the halfway point of the entire season.  Counting the preseason, the Chargers have played eight of their 20 games and will welcome the short break.  After meeting together on Tuesday, the team will practice Wednesday and Thursday before Turner dismisses his players for a three-day weekend. 

“It’s been a tough month on our football team,” Turner said.  “We have a chance to rest and continue to look at the guys we have and determine the best things we can do with them.  We can play a lot better.”