The Chargers' 2026 season continued to unravel on Sunday. They fell to 0-4 for the first time since 2017. A disastrous offensive first half allowed the team to fall behind 27-6 near the start of the third quarter. The offense came to life a little bit in the second half as Justin Herbert raised his level of play, but it was ultimately too little too late.
LT Logan Taylor, RT Travis Burke, and C Jacob Spomer also had to step in on offense as the team dealt with a horrific injury day. In this game, they simply didn't have the horses to be able to win by the end. But they also beat themselves all day with 16 penalties and four turnovers. That sloppiness is ultimately why the Chargers sit at 0-4.
Chargers HC Jim Harbaugh hits back at calls for OC Mike McDaniel's job.
At a contentious press conference, HC Jim Harbaugh had to answer for the failures of the offense. He chose to defend OC Mike McDaniel as pressure and calls for his job have intensified.
First, Harbaugh was asked if McDaniel has to rethink his offensive approach following four straight losses.
"Very skilled coach. We're gonna keep moving forward, keep thinking. Ideas, growth, all of those things," Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh pointed to the back-to-back touchdown drives in the second half as a sign that the offense is headed in the right direction. "That was a good sign," Harbaugh said.
Harbaugh has been asked in previous weeks if he would intervene on the offensive game plan considering the Chargers' struggles. On Sunday, he was more direct about the status of McDaniel himself. Towards the end of Harbaugh's press conference, a reporter asked if McDaniel's job was in jeopardy. Given the nature of the question, Harbaugh replied in a rather exasperated tone:
"No, his job is not is not in jeopardy. He's a skilled coach and we're going to keep growing," Harbaugh said.
While the calls for McDaniel's job are understandable given the lack of offensive performance, the team ultimately can't reevaluate offensive coordinator until the end of the season. They're paying Harbaugh $16 million dollars a season for two more years after this one. McDaniel himself definitely came with an undisclosed high price tag. The reality is that they've invested too much into this year's coaching staff financially to make big changes now.
The Chargers are also too injured to realistically have a top offense currently. In yesterday's game, they lost RT Joe Alt, WR Ladd McConkey, LT Rashawn Slater, and third-string LG Trevor Penning. Between Justin Herbert's poor play, the lack of explosive weapons, the injuries, and McDaniel's system-it's a team wide failure as opposed to one play-calling cog.
The rest of this season is no longer about the playoffs. That dream is most likely dead after the team started 0-4. But it is now about seeing whether a McDaniel-led offense is worth continuing into the 2027 campaign.
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