by Mac Stevenson

Created on: September 02, 2009

In the American Football Conference, the AFC West is the weakest division going into the 2009 season. The West has one team that's capable of playing on even terms with almost any team in the NFL-San Diego.

Denver and San Diego tied for the AFC West title in 2008 with 8-8 records, but the Chargers will dominate their division this season. San Diego has an established QB in Philip Rivers (6-5, 228) who will be starting his sixth season in the NFL. And RB LaDainian Tomlinson (5-10, 221) has one more superb season left, even though it will be his eighth.

Denver fired their long-time coach Mike Shanahan and replaced him with 33-year-old, first-time head coach Josh McDaniels. Denver's rookie coach quickly created a mess for himself by starting a feud with the franchise QB, Jay Cutler.

It's hard to imagine a rookie coach getting off to a worse start; the feud ended up with up-and-coming QB Cutler being traded to the Chicago Bears. In time that will prove to be one of the worst trades in the history of the AFC.

Denver has an outstanding offensive line and an average defense. Because of the weakness of Kansas City and Oakland, Denver will finish second in the AFC West.

Oakland and Kansas City will fight each other to stay out of the cellar in the West. The Raiders and Chiefs are the epitome of NFL teams that are badly mismanaged by their front offices.

Al Davis is the veteran owner of Oakland and his days as an effective head man are far behind him. Davis has made a mess of his once-proud franchise.

Davis is hoping his expensive QB, JaMarcus Russell (6-6, 260), will fulfill his promise as an NFL quarterback. This will be Russell's third season and so far he has performed well below expectations.

Kansas City rivals Oakland as one of the most poorly managed franchises in the NFL. Clark Hunt took over as Chairman of the Board when his father died and he's been in over his head.

Hunt finally fired the inept Carl Peterson and hired Scott Pioli from the New England organization as his general manager. Hunt and Pioli hired Arizona's offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, as the new head coach.

KC's main problem is their offensive line, the worst in the NFL. What's troubling to Chiefs' fans is the lack of change on the OL; it's almost identical to last year's substandard group. KC did make a trade with New England for QB Matt Cassel.

Cassel quickly discovered the difference between playing behind New England's OL and KC's; he's been running for his life on almost every pass play during the exhibition season. Kansas City is in for another dismal season, maybe as bad as 2008's 2-14 record.

San Diego is the class of the AFC West, but that's not saying much.

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