It's not time to give up on a win yet for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Sure, one isn't going to be easy to come by given the way this offense has played. But all it takes is one favorable matchup, and another stellar performance from Chris O'Leary's defense, and there's a chance the Chargers can come away with their first victory of the season. That's, of course, assuming there's anything resembling steady progress on the offensive side of the ball over the next couple of weeks.
And in a vacuum, this Week 10 matchup against the Baltimore Ravens may present an opportunity to get one. The Chargers got diced up by Jacoby Brissett in Week 2 (when he was with the Arizona Cardinals), but the defense, and especially the secondary, have been greatly improved since then. And even with Minter at the helm, the Baltimore defense has simply been middling to this point in the season—especially in terms of their sack and pressure rates.
But this is a desperation game for Minter and the Ravens. And given how bad the Chargers' offense has been, this matchup could quickly become another gift the Chargers deliver to their former defensive coordinator.
Jesse Minter needs a win this week—and there's no better team for that than the Chargers
By the time Minter finished his second season of dominance on the defensive side of the ball in Los Angeles, it was pretty clear what his fate was. The league loves innovative young coordinators, and even if it didn't happen this past offseason, there was eventually going to be a head coaching opportunity for Minter somewhere.
The Ravens' surprising 'firing' of John Harbaugh provided that shot.
But it was a job, unlike one with a rebuilding team, that came with massive expectations. John Harbaugh had been in Baltimore for over a decade, and a team with Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, and a high-value defensive investment in Trey Hendrickson is going to expect nothing less than Super Bowl contention. But injuries and inconsistent defensive play have led the Ravens to a 4-5 record under Minter.
Jackson has played just one drive since Week 4, in which he injured his thumb, and is now likely to be out for the season. The Ravens are currently in last place in the AFC North, and they'll likely need to win six of their next nine games to even have a chance of claiming a Wild Card berth.
But with Brissett now in the building, the Chargers offense presents Minter with a chance to turn things around at mid-season. Brissett likely isn't going to lead a formidable offensive attack his first week in a new scheme, but the Ravens don't need that. If they can simply stifle the Los Angeles offense, like every other team has done to this point in the season, the opportunity will be there to claim a desperately needed win.
From there, Baltimore plays the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Cleveland Browns. That's not an easy slate, necessarily, but there are no truly unbeatable teams in there, and a resurgence by the defense—and especially the secondary—could give the Ravens the momentum they so desperately need to string together a couple of victories.
Hopefully the reader can forgive me being pessimistic about the Chargers at this point in the season. But there's nothing that can motivate a team like a dominant victory, and there's perhaps no better candidate for that type of game, in 2026, than Los Angeles.
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