AFC West: the NFL's tightest divisional battle

If we take it a step further and factor in the 60 regular season games apiece that have been played within the AFC West, another team emerges as a clear-cut favorite. The Chargers have been the cream of the division for the last decade, winning the West in five of the last 10 seasons and dominating their division rivals along the way.

• The Chargers have an impressive .633 winning percentage against AFC West foes in the last 10 seasons and are tied with the Broncos with 52 wins apiece against all common opponents in one less game played. 

• Both the Chiefs and the Raiders have been sub .500 teams within the division as well as overall against commons. Oakland's fans are hoping to forget the  .350 winning percentage within the division now that control of the team has been pryed from Al Davis' cold, dead hands. 

• Denver is the only team with winning records against all three divisions and have the same amount of wins (52) as San Diego. but a slighty lower winning percentage (.584) than the Chargers (.591) due to the one game difference.

A lot have things have changed within the AFC West in the last 10 years. Every team in the division has had at least two head coaches and only one player, San Diego's Quentin Jammer, was on his current team's roster back at the start of the 2002 season. (Okay, so were Oakland's Sebastian Janikowski and Shane Lechler, but everyone knows kickers don't really count.)

History has a tendancy to repeat itself, especially over longer periods of time. If that holds true to form in the 2012 NFL season, the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers will find themselves fighting it out for the division title.

The Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders certainly have green "up" arrows next to their names and a lot to be excited about, but with tough draws against unfriendly divisions, they'll each have to wait until next year to claw their way back to the top.