LA Chargers: The good, bad and ugly in slaughtering vs. Patriots

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports – LA Chargers

The ugly:

Special teams

We all know that the LA Chargers have a historically bad special teams this season. Somehow, someway, the Chargers managed to one-up themselves in this game. Let’s look at the list of things the special teams did in this game:

• Punt return touchdown
• Blocked field goal touchdown
• Missed field goal
• 12 men on the field during a punt
• 10 men on the field during a punt (twice)
• 63-yard punt return

The only thing that this game missed was a muffed punt or a fumble on a kickoff return. If that would have happened then the Chargers would have literally done just about everything wrong that a special teams unit could possibly do.

There is nothing special about this group.

The offensive line

This is part of the reason why Justin Herbert was bad in this game but man, was the offensive line bad in this one. Storm Norton made his first career start and it showed as he was awful in this game.

The coaching

I mean, there was nothing that really stood out from a playcalling standpoint but the coaching staff is so awful that I just wanted to remind everyone. There is a reason why the Patriots throttled the Chargers despite having an arguably worse roster. There is a reason why they scored zero points.

Oh wait, there was one terrible coaching decision that the team made.

Keeping Justin Herbert in the game

This was absolutely inexcusable. This was the worst coaching decision that was made all season and that is saying something. There is zero reason to keep Justin Herbert in the game after he threw his second interception and is down 35-0, ESPECIALLY with how bad the offensive line was playing today.

The Chargers are lucky that Justin Herbert did not get hurt in this game. He caught hit low a few times in this game and after watching what happened to Joe Burrow two weeks ago you would think that the Chargers would have at least an ounce of common sense.

It was 45-0 at the end of the game and they had the common sense to sit Keenan Allen and other starters. However, Anthony Lynn just could not muster up the logic to take his FRANCHISE quarterback out of the game.

And what do you know? Herbert got blown up on a blitz on that last drive. I get that it is football and injuries are ALWAYS a possibility, but this is just outright malpractice.

If I was the general manager of the Chargers I would have stormed out of my luxury box down to the sidelines and fired Anthony Lynn ON THE SPOT for keeping Justin Herbert in this game. You risked the future of the franchise, who had already been hit hard a few times, in a five-possession game.

It is an absolute joke.