Fear, Thy Name is San Diego Chargers

After last season's two beatings that registered a 64-6 final score, the Chargers, who are the AFC West's dominant team of the last several years, are suddenly shaking in their powder blue boots.

Notice was served on Monday night that there is a new sheriff in town. Jay Cutler sliced and diced the Oakland Raiders -- a perennial also-ran, but a team with a top-five secondary -- in the season opener, gouging them for 300 yards passing on only 16 completions.

And now Cutler, who was dominated and confused by the Chargers defense last season, is letting everyone in the league know that he has arrived.

Considering he did what he did to Oakland without his most dynamic weapon, receiver Brandon Marshall (who was suspended for one game for violating the league's personal conduct policy), and adding in the emergence of rookie pass-catcher and waterbug imitator Eddie Royal, Cutler is looking like he could be a top 10 -- or even top-5 -- quarterback. Not sometime in the future. Right now.

One of the knocks on Cutler, especially when being compared to San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers, was his lack of fire on the field. Last season, his first as Denver's starting quarterback, Cutler had not yet taken the reigns of his team and taken over the vocal leadership role that so many offenses demand.

Monday night, he showed another side. When tight ends Nate Jackson and Tony Scheffler dropped key passes on important drive, he raised his voice, yelling at them to "make the catch!" This is a fire that simply has been missing since the retirement of fiery-but-troubled-and-mistake-prone Jake Plummer. If you'll recall, it was Plummer who led the 2005 Broncos to the playoffs, and all the way to the AFC Championship game before committing four turnovers against eventual Super Bowl Champ Pittsburgh.

Combine Plummer's fire with the talent of a guy like Cutler, and you've got a very special quarterback. One who is beginning to remind Broncos fans of another Denver quarterback: NFL Legend John Albert Elway.

Too soon for those comparisons? Perhaps. But Jay Cutler is on his way.

San Diego should be afraid. Very, very afraid.