Former Los Angeles Chargers star Shawne Merriman put naysayers on notice after the team walloped the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday night, 20-9, to move to 2-0 on the season.Merriman told Fox News Digital in a recent interview that the all-around performance from the team showed that theyre true contenders for the conference title."If anybody didnt believe they were going to be contenders, not only in the AFC West, but in the AFC in general, you havent been paying attention," he said. "First of all, Jim Harbaugh won at every program, organization hes been to the last several years. Two, this is Justin Herberts first year having a stable situation where hes had the same head coach, same offensive coordinator, you know, same, same, same. He hasnt had that since hes been playing with the Chargers. Every year, hes had to learn something new."CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COMThe first seasons Herbert, who had 242 passing yards and two passing touchdowns against the Raiders, had the same offensive coordinator was in 2021 and 2022 with Joe Lombardi while Brandon Staley was the head coach. With Harbaugh as the head coach, hes kept Greg Roman on as the offensive coordinator from last season to this season.Merriman also touted how the entire team has been built and that they no longer have to rely on Herbert trying to make all of the plays to win a game."Now, you have a team thats not relying on Justin Herbert to win anymore," he said. "If he plays well, great. If he doesnt, they can still win. The fact that you have the quarterback with the biggest arm in the National Football League that can win games for you is a bonus. But this team is physical on both sides of the football. This is a big, strong, physical team thats their DNA."The Kansas City Chiefs have been the cream of the crop in the AFC West for the last nine years. But going into Week 3, they find themselves 0-2 to start the year.HALL OF FAMER DAN MARINO BACKS STRUGGLING CHIEFS AFTER STARTING SEASON 0-2: 'THEYRE GOING TO BE OK'Merriman noted that the Chiefs can no longer rely on Patrick Mahomes to do everything for them and will have to address the holes in their team and their aging stars."This is not a knock on the Chiefs at all, but you can only rely on Patrick Mahomes for so long. Weve seen it with some of the greatest quarterbacks in the business," he told Fox News Digital. "How long have we seen it with Aaron Rodgers? They didnt give him a No. 1 wide receiver. They didnt get people around him. They just say, Hey, youre Aaron Rodgers. You can go win a lot of football games for us. You dont need any help. And that gets you so far because you can win a lot of games with great quarterbacks."Travis Kelce may go down as the greatest or top three greatest tight end of all time, but hes just like the rest of us. Hes getting older. He cant do what he used to do five years ago. Xavier Worthy went down with a shoulder. They dont have a deep threat right now. They cant run the football effectively. But the Chiefs are still a good team. The Chargers are just better, and that happens in the division when people get better around you and you dont."The Chargers will have their home opener on Sunday against the Denver Broncos.Follow Fox News Digitalssports coverage on X and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.