Chargers: Twitter poll reflects fan disappointment in slow start
By Steven Haglund
A recent twitter poll showed that the majority of Chargers’ fans now see seven wins as the best case scenario for the team, which would be a huge disappointment considering preseason expectations.
Heading into the 2019 season, there was real optimism surrounding the Los Angeles Chargers. Coming off a 12-4 season, while also leading the league in Pro-Bowl players, many media pundits pegged the Chargers a potential Super Bowl threat. The players talked all offseason about how sore of a taste they had after last year’s playoff loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots, as well as discussed their goal to overtake the Chiefs as the division winner. Both of these things seemed obtainable.
Then Melvin Gordon decided to hold out, and team lost Russell Okung and Derwin James to injury. They started the season sans three Pro-Bowl players, but the optimism remained; then, the injuries started piling up. Michael Badgley, Adrian Phillips Mike Williams, Mike Davis, Justin Jackson, Melvin Ingram, Hunter Henry, Virgil Green and Travis Benjamin have all missed games so far this season. Mike Pouncey, Sean Culkin, and Dontrelle Inman’s seasons are over, and it was just announced Benjamin will follow them to IR.
Needless to say, the team has been plagued by injuries. Throw in some wildly slow starts to games and poor execution, and they now sit at 2-4 after six weeks of the season. Every single game has been one the Chargers likely should have won. Every game, with the exception of Miami, could have also been a loss. They just as easily could be sitting at 5-1 or 1-5 right now. Regardless, fans are starting to adjust their expectation.
Most of the Bolt Beat staff still thinks that a 9-7 or 10-6 season is still obtainable. However, the fans do not share that same train of thought. The majority of them voted for a possible 8-8 season and over one-third of them voted for seven wins or less. Many fans responded to the poll expressing their frustration, and stated that unless the team makes some kind of positive additions via trade or free agency they don’t think anything will change. This certainly has been a frustrating turn of events for fans of the team.
https://twitter.com/SHaglund001/status/1184185374559494144?s=20