The Los Angeles Chargers offense, needless to say, hasn't come close to meeting expectations to this point in the season. Through five weeks, the unit is 32nd (dead last) in the NFL in EPA/play, and it's only crossed the 20-point threshold once this season with a semi-solid showing against the Seattle Seahawks,
The passing game is absolutely abysmal, and the ongoing injury concerns of Ladd McConkey, Quentin Johnston, and Tre' Harris certainly won't help them get back on track. But the run game, actually, has quietly found its footing over the past couple of weeks.
Sure, Mike McDaniel's decision to have Keaton Mitchell surpass Omarion Hampton in touches in Week 4 was controversial, to say the least—and it's likely not a sustainable balance. But Los Angeles is currently ninth in the league in total rushing yards and 14th in yards per rushing attempt.
Those aren't mind-blowing numbers. But given what the offense has faced in terms of interior protection and viability of the passing game, it's certainly not as bad as things could be.
More importantly, though, Los Angeles seems to have found a sustainable distribution of touches between its three running backs—Hampton, Mitchell, and Kimani Vidal—and as the run game continues to find its footing, the Chargers' patient approach with Vidal is paying major dividends. It won't be enough to save this team, but it's an encouraging sign as Los Angeles rounds into its final pre-bye matchup.
Kimani Vidal still provides value to the run game—even if his opportunities are relatively limited
Entering the season, it was pretty obvious that Vidal wasn't going to match the production of his breakout 2025 campaign. Vidal unexpectedly became the Chargers' primary back last season after both Hampton and free-agent back Najee Harris went down with injury, and he kept this team afloat for much of the campaign under Greg Roman's offensive scheme. Between Weeks 6 and 13, Vidal posted 525 yards and three touchdowns on 117 touches, providing consistent production in Los Angeles' between-the-tackles run game.
But in the context of McDaniel's outside zone-oriented scheme, Vidal simply doesn't have the same burst or explosiveness that make Hampton and Mitchell such potentially high-level threats. Vidal struggled to get the timing of the outside-zone run down during the preseason, and he was limited to just one rushing attempt across Los Angeles' first three games of this campaign.
Over the past two games, though, the Chargers' ground game has looked significantly improved, and an increase in touches for Vidal has been a major part of that. As McDaniel has scramble to find ways to resurrect this offense, he's moved away from his commitment to the outside run, instead leveraging both Hampton and Vidal to the inside to grant the offense some additional variability.
Vidal posted five touches for 25 yards in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks and eight touches for 57 yards in Week 5 against the Denver Broncos. The Chargers have posted a respectable 4.6 yards-per-attempt in each of those weeks.
More importantly, the vast bulk of Vidal's touches have come on between-the-tackle runs, meaning that Los Angeles is working within the context of his skill set rather than McDaniel's scheme. His 49-yard run against the Denver Broncos, which came through the B-gap on the left side of the line, provides ample evidence of how effective he can be in those scenarios.
Even if the passing game continues to be hamstrung over the remainder of the season, the Chargers' run game will be at its best when all three of Hampton, Mitchell, and Vidal are clicking in tandem. Keeping Vidal out of the action entirely was never a truly viable option.
But now that he's worked his way into the course of the offense, Los Angeles' patient approach is paying dividends.
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