Chargers fall to 5-10 after being swept by Raiders
By Travis Wakeman
The unthinkably bad 2019 season for the Los Angeles Chargers got worse on Sunday when they lost to the Oakland Raiders for the second time this season.
The Chargers are now 0-5 against teams in the AFC West division this season and this marks the first time they have been swept in the season series by the Raiders since 2016.
The game got off to a rough start for the Chargers as they allowed a 56-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Renfrow on the Raiders’ first offensive possession. Though they were able to answer with a touchdown run by Melvin Gordon, the Chargers never led in this game.
Philip Rivers didn’t turn the ball over in this one but he also failed to throw a touchdown pass despite passing for 279 yards. He headed to the locker room just prior to the end of the first half with a hand injury and returned in the second half with a heavily taped right thumb.
The Chargers were incredibly stagnant offensively and ran for just 19 yards on 16 carries as a team.
Looking at the statistics, nothing sticks out like a sore thumb in this one. But the Chargers just weren’t able to make plays at critical junctures in the game. They allowed Derek Carr to go 26-of-30 passing and the Raiders converted on seven of their 14 third-down attempts.
With the win, the Raiders stay mathematically alive in the AFC playoff race despite a 7-8 record.
More from Bolt Beat
- LA Chargers: 3 early takeaways from 2021 minicamp thus far
- LA Chargers: Drue Tranquill takes a jab at Gus Bradley’s defense
- LA Chargers second-year players: Nothing to lose and a lot to gain
- LA Chargers: Why running back could be a big issue for the Bolts
- LA Chargers: Chris Rumph’s upside is Melvin Ingram-like, but better
The Chargers fall to 5-10, almost a complete flip-flop of the 12-4 record they finished last season with. Fans are left to wonder what the heck has gone wrong? After all, this is basically the same team that went to the divisional round of the playoffs last season.
The Chargers will wrap up their 2019 campaign next Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs. Immediately afterward, a slew of questions are going to follow.
Has Philip Rivers played his final game for the team? Will Anthony Lynn be on the sidelines in 2020? What went wrong this season and how much will the team need in order to turn things around?
These are questions fans are going to want to start asking now as that conversation is much more interesting than anything revolving around the finale with the Chiefs in a season that just can’t get over soon enough.