On a day when LA Chargers fans were celebrating the one-year anniversary of firing former head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco, the team that showed up in the second half looked exactly like those former teams. And it ruined their best shot at making the playoffs.
Heading into Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers, the Bolts were in position to potentially control their playoff destiny. All they had to do was win at home and hope for the Denver Broncos to win against the Indianapolis Colts (they did).
Thursday’s game would then give the team a chance to win and grab a playoff berth. Instead, during the second half the team did the worst thing possible: gave the game away in humiliating fashion.
With the best playoff opportunity of their season, the Chargers gave it all away
The Chargers would take a 17-13 lead into the half. And that would be as good as it got for them as the Buccaneers embarrassed the Bolts in the second half; a half that looked like Staley was coaching the team.
The Chargers could not pick up a third-down conversion in the second half, so of course they also could not pick up either fourth-down attempt. Justin Herbert was beaten up and hit so many times that SoFi was dead silent with seven minutes left in the game and the announcers were calling for Jim Harbaugh to take Herbert out of the game, which he ultimately did.
Everything offensively that has gone wrong this season glared during this awful half: dropped passes, interior offensive line issues, poor blocking, no running game at all.
As bad as the offense was, the defensive performance was stunningly awful and should eradicate any talk about Jesse Minter as a head coach next season. The Bolts defense gave up 24 points in the second half. Most of which came in the third quarter. They gave up over 100 yards rushing in the half. They made Baker Mayfield look like freaking Tom Brady. It was an utterly embarrassing performance from a unit that had been a source of pride.
This performance was so bad that real questions must now be asked about the future of this team in 2024. The big issue of this game is not just that the Bolts ruined the best opportunity they would have to secure a playoff spot.
And it is not even that the team will now have to fight in a few days against the surging Broncos to save their season. It is that all the issues with this team that we have been worried about reared their head in the ugliest half of the 2024 season for the Bolts. An ugly reminder of a past that this team is trying to escape.
The LA Chargers no longer control their playoff destiny. With two very winnable games to end the season, Thursday’s game against the Broncos becomes must-win for this team. The playoffs can still be reached for this team, but time is running out and they have to show up and show out the rest of the way.
Desperation time is here for the Bolts. They need to burn the tape of this game and do it now. If the Chargers put on another performance like this game, the 2024 season will end with a sad whimper.