Chargers' reeling offense offers up more of the same coming out of bye week

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — It was more of the same for the struggling Los Angeles Chargers’ offense coming out of their bye week.

Same play-caller, having stuck with embattled coordinator Mike McDaniel. Same inability to score touchdowns, a streak that now stretches to nine quarters. Same issues with turnovers, with Justin Herbert throwing two interceptions. And the same result, a 24-9 loss to the Rams on Sunday which leaves them winless through seven games.

“It’s really tough,” Herbert said. “I feel for the defense, I feel for the team, and nobody feels worse.”

Coach Jim Harbaugh said McDaniel will continue to oversee the offense, which came in as the lowest-scoring unit in the NFL at 15 points per game and only meaningfully threatened to reach the end zone on a Hail Mary throw from Herbert at the end of the first half.

Wide receiver Quentin Johnston nearly came out of a pile of Rams defenders with the ball, only for safety Kamren Kinchens to jar it loose, sending it to Ladd McConkey to catch at the 1. Kinchens and cornerback Jaylen Watson alertly came together to tackle McConkey before he could reach the goal line.

Those are the kind of breaks the Chargers haven’t been able to capitalize on during Harbaugh’s worst season as a head coach in college or the NFL, leaving him to preach a message of togetherness.

“We’re the only ones that have the opportunity to change it, fix it, and that’s what we’re gonna do, go back to work,” he said. “Not been in this position that many times either here, you know, as a coach. But we got to be dedicated ourselves to getting this turned. That’s where we’re at.”

In addition to standing by McDaniel, Harbaugh also expressed his support for Herbert, who went 24 of 32 for 257 yards and now leads the league with 10 interceptions.

The second pick was particularly shocking, with Herbert seemingly not seeing Trent McDuffie as the underneath defender in coverage on tight end Charlie Kolar and throwing it right to the Rams’ star cornerback.

This is Herbert’s fifth season with at least 10 interceptions in his seven years with the Chargers, and it seems likely he will blow past his career high of 15 picks in 17 games during the 2021 campaign.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s part of the game, and it’s the unfortunate part of where we’re at. And I’d love to have played better and made better decisions, but, you know, I haven’t, and that’s something I have to work on and continue to get better at,” he said.

Herbert has also fumbled seven times and lost two of them. That number should be three, but Rams defensive lineman Aaron Donald couldn’t pick up a strip-sack along the sideline.

There were other all-too-familiar problems around the Chargers’ touted quarterback, who took two more sacks and four more hits.

The ground game accounted for just 2.6 yards per carry, finishing with 64 yards on 25 carries. Omarion Hampton, the 2025 first-round pick who was supposed to become Harbaugh’s latest bell-cow tailback, had 20 yards on nine attempts and didn’t make much of an impact as a receiver.

Frequently forced into third-and-long, the offense was 6 of 15 (40%) on those money downs.

On their one trip inside the red zone, the Chargers had to settle for a field goal by Cameron Dicker.

Offensive tackle Joe Alt summed up the performance as “frustrating.”

“You want to come up with a win,” he said. “As a player, as a unit of the offensive line, we got to be better. I mean, just the scoreboard reflects that, and that’s all I really can say. We got to be better. We got to score more points. We got to play together more. We got to get more passing yards, more rushing yards. It’s just how it’s got to go.”

See AP’s full NFL coverage here