The Los Angeles Chargers have been one of the most puzzling teams in the NFL this season. From being consensus top five in power rankings to having a 30% chance to make the postseason, or going on a four-game winning streak to blowing a 27 - 0 lead in the wild-card round of the playoffs. The Chargers showed flashes of being legitimate contenders this season, which were shut down multiple times because of various reasons.
All-pro Reels https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
All In
After finishing 9-8 and missing the playoffs off of a Daniel Carlson kick in week 18, everybody expected the front office in Los Angeles to make a splash in the offseason. Once the bar was set with their division rivals in the Denver Broncos trading for all-pro QB Russell Wilson, everyone knew the other AFC West teams would have to make some moves. The Chargers definitely started off strong, signing pro bowler JC Jackson to a 5-year, 82.5 million dollar deal. This was huge since Jackson was believed to be the best free agent on the market at the time. But when people thought they were done spending, GM Tom Telesco surprised everyone again.
Right after signing Jackson, the Chargers decided to trade for six-time all-pro LB Khalil Mack. Seeing they only sent a second and a late fourth to Chicago, this seemed like a great trade for Los Angeles to make. After these moves, they also went and got difference-makers on defense in Sebastian Joseph-Day, Kyle Van Noy, and Morgan Fox. After everyone saw how seriously it looked like the Chargers were taking the last years of Justin Herbert's rookie deal, their place on the league power rankings reflected their moves. Los Angeles was ranked as high as third on most preseason rankings, and usually no lower than sixth. Going into the season, it seemed there was no way the Chargers could screw anything up this year.
The Injuries
The Injury bug struck this week quickly, with WR Keenan Allen pulling his hamstring early in week 1 vs. the Raiders. Before this, their biggest free agency pickup in JC Jackson had surgery for an extra bone in his ankle which caused pain when he jumped. Jackson attempted to play on Thursday night vs. the Chiefs, where he had a very lackluster performance. He ended up missing the next few weeks during recovery from the same injury. When he came back, he played poorly, including getting benched in the second half of the Monday night win vs. Denver. Soon after, this, Jackson dislocated his right knee against the Seahawks, in one of their worse losses of the season. This injury kept Jackson out for the remainder of the season.
Keenan, however, had a much simpler story when it came to his injury. After pulling his hamstring in week one, he didn't come back until week seven against the Seahawks, where Mike Williams got injured for multiple weeks. During the bye week in week 8, he suffered a setback that took him out until week 11, where he played every game until the end of the season. Mike Williams came back from his injury against the Chiefs, where he aggravated his ankle sprain and missed two more weeks. In week 18 in a meaningless game against the Broncos, head coach Brandon Staley kept the starters out, where Williams fractured his back and kept him out for the playoffs.
There were other players who were injured to cause the Chargers to fall to 10-7 this season. Some of them are Joey Bosa missing thirteen games with a groin injury, Rashawn Slater who was ruled out for the season with torn biceps in week 3, and Justin Herbert who played through torn rib cartilage in week 2. The number of injuries the Chargers had this year was a large reason why they finished with ten wins on the season. However, Los Angeles was able to make the playoffs despite the injuries they faced.
The Run
Things seemed very dim for the Chargers going into week 14, where they sat at 5-6 and weren't getting any healthier. However, On that Sunday night, they dominated against a streaking Miami Dolphins team as they shut down their elite wide receiver duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. The injured Chargers defense looked amazing that night, holding Tua Tagovailoa to 145 passing yards on 10/28 passing. Justin Herbert looked amazing that night, going for 367 yards as the Bolts won 23-17. Of course, this win didn't single-handedly bring Los Angeles to the playoffs, but it played a big role.
The next week, they beat the Colts 17-14 on a game-winning field goal from Cameron Dicker. Next, they dominated Nick Foles and the Colts 20-3 on Monday Night. Lastly, they beat the Rams 31-10 in the Battle of LA. All of a sudden, they went from a 30 percent chance of making the playoffs to clinching their first postseason berth in five years. Many people in the media became high on the team, saying they could make a deep playoff run.
Of course, the story of this season is inconsistency. And what other way to be inconsistent than following this by losing against the Broncos? Going into this game, they were already locked in as the 5 seed in the AFC, so this game meant nothing to them and their season. However, Head Coach Brandon Staley made the questionable decision to play his starters against the 5th worst team in the league. Due to this decision, Mike Williams fractured his back, Joey Bosa aggravated his groin injury, and Kenneth Murray injured his finger. In the third quarter, some of the starters sat down, but the game was already decided. The Broncos (who did actually look pretty good in this game), beat the Chargers starters 31-28 in a legitimate competition. Due to this, Los Angeles couldn't feel like they were riding into the playoffs on a high note.
Rematch against Jacksonville
In week three of the season, the Chargers got blown out 38-10 against the Jaguars. It was an awful loss for them, seeing they lost Joey Bosa and Rashawn Slater on top of the momentum hit. Justin Herbert was also coming off of his rib injury, so he didn't look the same as he has so far in his career. Austin Ekeler also didn't get the touches he usually does, which means they weren't getting into the end zone as much as they should. Now going into the playoffs playing the team that handed them their worst loss of the season, they were sure to come back with a chip on their shoulder.
The first half of this game was electric for Los Angeles. They picked off Trevor Lawrence three times, two of them going to Asante Samuel Jr. The offense didn't need to get far down the field, since the defense was putting them in the red zone almost every possession. The Chargers took a 27-0 lead in the second quarter, all but ending the game. However, the Jaguars went down the field quickly before the end of the half and got their first touchdown of the game. As the teams went into the locker room, it became clear that the Jaguars were going to put up more of a fight in the second half than most people thought.
The second half was a completely different story than the first. Lawrence and the Jaguars looked experienced and like they knew how to win a playoff game. The Chargers offense looked lackluster. The defense couldn't stop Evan Engram and the Jacksonville receivers from getting to the end zone. Los Angeles only ran the ball 8 times in the second half, gaining a total of zero yards. Jacksonville outscored the Chargers 24-3 to come back from a historic deficit and advance to the second round to face the Chiefs. The Jaguars left that night on top of the world, and the Chargers on the bottom.
What's Next?
The Chargers have some interesting decisions to make this offseason. Will they fire their Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi? Will they make a move to get Super Bowl Champion Head Coach Sean Payton from the Saints? What more can the front office do to put themselves in a better position next season? As of right now, it doesn't seem like they will make any move when it comes to their head coaching position. The team seems to put a lot of faith in Brandon Staley, so it doesn't look like they will get rid of him this year. Going into the offseason, it sure will be very interesting to see what GM Tom Telesco and the front office decide to do to put Justin Herbert and the team in the best position to win.
Written by Adam Kerr
Comments