LA Chargers: The good, bad and ugly in loss to Denver Broncos
By Jason Reed
The ugly:
The coaching:
I am sick of it. We have made too many excuses for too long. Yes, the Chargers deal with injuries, but so does every other team in the National Football League. Last season we blamed Philip Rivers, and it was easy to do as he made so many mistakes.
The buck stops with the head coach and this has become a trend. Four losses after having a 16-point lead. Countless questionable play call after questionable play call.
It starts with Anthony Lynn. There is obviously not a winning culture with this franchise and there is nobody to blame but him. Defensively, the Chargers have to move on from Gus Bradley. Every single time the Chargers are prompted with a game-winning drive to defend he shells up, calls prevent defense and allows the team to meticulously drive down the field.
They got lucky that the team forced a special teams turnover last week and that Justin Herbert is incredible because if not, they probably would have already lost their jobs. Bradley should be gone before we drink our morning coffee tomorrow. Lynn, barring some spectacular turnaround (it won’t happen), should be gone after the season.
The second-half defense:
Oh my was this bad. I have never seen a defense look so different in both halves of a football game. The Chargers looked good defensively in the first half and looked absolutely terrible in the second half.
Part of it was the playcalling, but it is clear that this secondary is not as talented as we thought it was. Fans are going to be calling for Desmond King (he was inactive) but he would not have made a difference.
The Chargers have one legitimately good cornerback and that is Casey Hayward and before this week he was having a really poor season. They absolutely cannot win games like this. If it was not for Justin Herbert they would be getting blown out in every single game and would be in the discussion for the first overall pick.
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This game sucked. The LA Chargers’ playoff hopes are gone. Sure, they “could” go on a run, but after seeing this same song and dance for my entire life, I think it is safe to say that they deserve the done chain.