Ready for prime time The Chargers (five times!) kick off the 2022 season against the Raiders

Touted as an interesting team on the rise, the Chargers were hoping to get a lot of national exposure in 2022.

On Thursday, the NFL turned that expectation into reality, announcing that coach Brandon Staley’s team will play at least five games in prime time.

By presenting the Chargers like this, the league is betting heavily that this group will be worth watching all season.

The Chargers will play Kansas City on Thursday nights, San Francisco and the Rams on Sunday nights, and Denver and Indianapolis on Monday nights.

With Pro Bowl quarterback Justin Herbert and his collection of offensive weapons plus a rebuilt defense, the Chargers will likely be major playoff contenders.

They were eliminated last year on the final play of the final game of the regular season, a 35-32 overtime loss in Week 18 in Las Vegas. Those two AFC West rivals will meet at SoFi Stadium on September 11 to open 2022.

Even before the full schedule was released, the Chargers were poised to be a part of NFL television history. Its previously announced Week 2 date in Kansas City will be the first game to be shown exclusively on Amazon Prime Video.

The Chargers’ preseason games will be against the Rams (Aug. 13, 7 pm PDT) and Dallas (Aug. 20, 7 pm) at home, and on the road against the New Orleans Saints, date and time TBD.

A game-by-game look at the regular season schedule. The Chargers are out of Week 8, with Sunday, October 30 being:

September 11: LAS VEGAS, 1:25 p.m., (Channel 2) — During this offseason, the Raiders added wide receiver Davante Adams and the Chargers added cornerback JC Jackson. Those movements collide in this place that lifts the lid.

September 15: in Kansas City, 5:15 pm, (Prime Video) — Another chapter will be written in what could be a story of Herbert’s entire career: his twice-a-year battles with Patrick Mahomes.

September 25: JACKSONVILLE, 1:05 pm, (Channel 2) — The Chargers will face quarterback Trevor Lawrence, the first overall pick in 2021, for the first time.

October 2: in Houston, 10 am, (Channel 2) — The Chargers return to the site of their worst loss of 2021, a still stunning 41-29 loss to the then-three-win Texans, the day after Christmas.

October 9: in Cleveland, 10 am, (Channel 2) – The Browns have a new quarterback in Deshaun Watson, but will he be eligible to play in this game as he still faces an uncertain future due to pending civil lawsuits?

October 17: DENVER, 5:15 p.m., (ESPN) — The Broncos made one of the biggest jumps of a splashy offseason in the NFL by acquiring quarterback Russell Wilson from Seattle. The Chargers get their first look at Denver’s version of Wilson.

October 23: SEATTLE, 13:25, (Channel 11) — The Seahawks, the Rams’ NFC West rivals, will make their first trip to Los Angeles to play the Chargers. They most recently played the Chargers in San Diego in September 2014.

November 6: in Atlanta, 10 am, (Channel 11) — The Chargers have played the Falcons just twice since 1994. They won their most recent visit, in October 2016, when Philip Rivers threw for 371 yards.

November 13: in San Francisco, 5:20 pm, (Channel 4) — The Chargers have won five in a row against the 49ers since the 2002 season after losing six in a row, including Super Bowl XXIX in January 1995.

November 20: KANSAS CITY, 1:25 pm, (Channel 2) — The Chiefs have won the AFC West in each of the past six seasons. During that same time, the Chargers finished second, third and fourth twice each.

November 27: in Arizona, 13:05, (Channel 2) — The Chargers’ new defense has a shot at Kyler Murray, the Cardinals’ dynamic quarterback who lost both of his starts against Staley during the 2020 season when Staley was the Rams’ defensive coordinator.

December 4: in Las Vegas, 1:25 p.m., (Channel 2) – The sequel in Sin City: The Chargers and Raiders wrapped up the 2021 regular season by staging a playoff-impacting Week 18 overtime classic, won by Las Vegas when time expired.

December 11: MIAMI, 1:05 pm, (Channel 2) – When these teams met most recently, on Nov. 15, 2020, the Dolphins fan base was very hyped for then-rookie Tua Tagovailoa, who had just helped engineer a dramatic victory in Arizona.

December 18: TENNESSEE, 13:25, (Channel 2) — After the defense battled the run in 2021, Chargers decision-makers committed to rebuilding. Derrick Henry and the Titans should offer a significant test.

December 26: in Indianapolis, 5:15 p.m., (ESPN) — For the second straight year, the Chargers will face their former defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, who is now with the Colts after spending one season with the Raiders.

January 1: RAMS, 5:20 pm, (Channel 4) — Staley will pair Xs and O’s for the first time as an opposing head coach with his old boss, Sean McVay.

January 7 or 8: at Denver, TBD, (TBD) — As a franchise, the Chargers have lost eight of nine in Denver since January 2014. The only win came late in the 2018 regular season, when the Broncos had nothing to play for.