It is humorous, in hindsight, that the primary two seasons of Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers tenure have been thought-about disappointments. The workforce received 11 video games in every of these seasons and made the playoffs, however two dispiriting losses within the wild-card spherical produced a sense that the Chargers have been doing themselves a disservice by not striving for extra. So out went Greg Roman, the one offensive coordinator Jim Harbaugh had ever labored with within the professionals, and in got here Mike McDaniel to rebuild the offense.
If you wish to admit it now, that is OK. This can be a secure house. You possibly can increase your hand and say, “Sure, the thought, ‘Mike McDaniel may actually cook dinner with Justin Herbert as his quarterback,’ entered my head sooner or later between the months of July and August 2026.” No person’s going in charge you for that. Sure, McDaniel misplaced his job because the Dolphins’ head coach in slightly pathetic trend, however there was a interval there when he had the Fins enjoying some electrical offensive soccer, all whereas Tua Tagovailoa was his quarterback. Let this man get again to his roots as a coordinator, give him a 6-foot-6 All-Professional quarterback who could make each type of throw, and it’s best to have one thing particular in your arms.
There was completely nothing particular concerning the Chargers this season. They scored six factors in opposition to the Chiefs on Sunday and at the moment are 0-6 on the season. They’re averaging 15 factors per sport and have been held below 300 whole yards of offense in half their video games. Herbert is enjoying like Mac Jones with vertigo. He has but to throw for 300 yards in a sport, his completion proportion is six factors beneath his profession common, and he’s main the league with eight interceptions. He is additionally getting tenderized; the 21 sacks he is taken thus far have him on tempo to blow previous the 54 he suffered in 16 video games final season.
There are explanations for this catastrophe to be discovered on the Chargers’ depth chart. Accidents have made the offensive line scenario really alarming. Each beginning tackles, Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater, are out of the lineup, as is beginning guard Kayode Awosika. Backups Trey Pipkins III and Trevor Penning are additionally on the IR, which signifies that the present beginning group is Cole Unusual at proper guard and 4 rookies. The receiving corps is nearly as grim. I suppose Ladd McConkey and Tre Harris are supposed to be the highest two targets on this offense, however they’ve mixed for 28 receptions on the season. McConkey needed to depart Sunday’s sport with a concussion, which left Herbert throwing to the likes of KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Theo Wease Jr.
Accidents apart, it is a roster that isn’t functioning because it’s meant to. McDaniel’s offense, when it really works, is designed to get the ball to dynamic talent gamers in house. The Chargers simply do not actually have any of these. Operating again Omarion Hampton, taken within the first-round within the 2025 draft, has been putrid this season. Harris was chosen one spherical after Hampton, and he hasn’t accomplished a lot even when he is been on the sector. Harbaugh was additionally purported to be rebuilding this offensive line with a view to defend Herbert, burning a top-five decide in 2024 on Alt and a second-round decide on Jake Slaughter this previous spring. Alt performed 16 video games as a rookie, when Herbert was sacked 41 instances, and has barely seen the sector since. Slaughter’s clearly not doing a lot to maintain the present patchwork line collectively.
The Chargers are heading right into a bye week, which makes McDaniel possibly essentially the most pre-fired offensive coordinator in historical past. Harbaugh has beforehand said that McDaniel’s job just isn’t at risk, however after Sunday’s sport he appeared resigned to the truth that one thing has to vary. “We’ll take a look at all the pieces,” was his response to a query about whether or not McDaniel will proceed to name performs going ahead. Provided that Harbaugh does not appear all for calling performs himself—when McDaniel was employed he anointed him the “head coach of the offense”—that reply is a little more ominous than it would seem. And here is one thing to ship a chill down your backbone: If McDaniel is fired, the man on workers probably to step into his position is Adam Gase.
As soon as the Chargers hearth McDaniel, although, they’re just about out of strikes. Harbaugh is in the midst of a reported five-year contract that pays him $16 million yearly, which might be a large and humiliating funding for the Chargers to chop bait on now. He may be wanting to resign from the job himself, besides that he is at the moment banned from returning to varsity soccer, making retirement or TV work his solely reasonable choices. After which there’s Herbert, the man who was already one of the crucial polarizing quarterbacks within the league earlier than he began placing up J.J. McCarthy numbers. The Chargers have spent seven seasons making an attempt and principally failing to construct a successful roster round Herbert, and now he is the one producing all of the stink. Even when the entrance workplace decides that now’s the time to eliminate this man and begin a rebuild, who’s buying and selling something of actual worth for him now?
Not less than they’re lastly doing the remainder of us the favor of not losing our time. It is good to have the Chargers reveal themselves as frauds effectively earlier than the wild-card sport for as soon as, in order that they will put straight onto the pay-no-mind checklist, the place they all the time belong.
