(Photo: The Ringer)
When the Los Angeles Chargers decided to hire Jim Harbaugh, I knew good things would come from that. Jim is a good coach, dating back to his first NFL job with the San Francisco 49ers. He always had them ready to play, and in his first three seasons with the team, he had them in the NFC Championship Game. Even looking back to his days with the Stanford Cardinal, his quarterback was Andrew Luck. Most recently, his tenure at his alma mater with the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor started out rocky, but he overcame the struggles, finally beat the Ohio State Buckeyes, and won the national title he coveted before coming back to coach in the NFL. In his first two seasons, the Chargers made the playoffs but have yet to win a playoff game. The last time this team won a game in January, Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates were still playing for the team. This season, the Chargers have struggled out of the gate, and with today’s loss to the Buffalo Bills, they have fallen to 0-3. I’m here to talk about what’s gone wrong with this football team.
The Chargers decided to part ways with former offensive coordinator Greg Roman and replaced him with Mike McDaniel, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, who’s known for being an innovative offensive mind. However, I’ve yet to see that this year. The LA offense has yet to click under Mike, and, to be quite honest, I’m unsure what their identity is as a team. Do they want Justin Herbert to take the game over, or do they want to follow Jim Harbaugh’s philosophy, which is running the football and playing downhill? I haven’t seen much of that either, so who they’re trying to be as an offense is up in the air to me. Mike was hired to modernize and elevate this offense, and in their first three games, they have a combined total of 44 points: 14, 14, and 16. Justin Herbert has also struggled, but he isn’t the entire problem. So far, he’s completing 59 percent of his passes, but he’s thrown only two touchdown passes and three interceptions because he doesn’t have enough time to throw. That leads me to my next point, which is their offensive line. They’ve allowed pressure on 45 percent of dropbacks, which is the second-highest rate in the league. It also hasn’t helped that they’ve been dealing with injuries up front and have had to rotate guys because of those injuries.
Their defense isn’t bad, and, in fact, I think they have one of the more talented units in the league. If anything, it’s been inconsistent. They’ve shown flashes, but they also have some structural issues. The pass rush isn’t getting home, and that shocks me considering they still have Khalil Mack. He’s definitely passed his prime, but he’s still capable of getting home and bringing the quarterback down. I noticed today against the Bills that Khalil actually got to Josh Allen a few times and even recorded a strip sack. As a unit, the defense forced a total of five turnovers, which was hands down their best performance of the young season. The main issue with this defense is their secondary. Under new defensive coordinator Chris O’Leary, the Chargers now play a 4-2-5 with three safeties, and this allows them to play fast and aggressively. Now, I’m noticing a trend: a lack of a pass rush mixed with soft coverage can allow a quarterback to get comfortable. I noticed that in Week 2 against the Las Vegas Raiders. I saw Kirk Cousins tear apart this Chargers secondary every chance he got. I notice a unit that reacts rather than dictates, and that hurts them. The only positive about their defense is that they are stout against the run. That much I’ll give them. If I had to boil it down to three things, one, the pass rush is inconsistent; two, the secondary is playing way too much catch-up; and lastly, and I think most importantly, they don’t win their early downs consistently enough.
Outside of everything I listed about what’s gone wrong for them, the Chargers’ schedule doesn’t get any easier. They played the Buffalo Bills today, they go to Seattle for a showdown with the Seahawks next week, then Denver in Week 5, the Chiefs in Week 6, the Rams in Week 8, Houston in Week 9, and the Ravens on Monday Night Football in Week 10. That’s a brutal schedule, and they’re already in an 0-3 hole, unfortunately. That schedule I listed will either make or break this football team.
