Chargers should be getting major reinforcements as bye week provides much needed rest

The Los Angeles Chargers' season hasn't gone off the rails because of their injury struggles. But those unlucky breaks certainly haven't helped them in their efforts to get things back on track.

Almost as soon as the offense began to find any sort of momentum, all three of Joe Alt, Rashawn Slater, and Trevor Penning went down. With Kayode Awosika and Trey Pipkins III already dealing with their own injury struggles, that had disaster written all over it from the beginning. The Chargers also played most of their Week 5 matchup without any of their top three receivers, and Ladd McConkey went down with a concussion almost as soon as he returned for the team's Week 6 matchup.

It's the Chargers. Poor injury luck is to be expected. But yet again, this team has been absolutely decimated by injuries on both sides of the ball, and any hope they have of righting this ship, even temporarily, rests on the speedy return of many of these pieces.

An early bye isn't always the best thing for a number of teams. But for Los Angeles, a week off couldn't have come at a better time. Jim Harbaugh said in his press availability on Monday that a number of players are close to a return. Here's that list, courtesy of The Athletic's Noah Furtado:

It seems as though the Chargers may be partially intact when they exit the bye with their Week 8 matchup against the Los Angeles Rams.

Chargers get some desperately needed rest as they chart a path to turning this season around

We don't need to discuss the potential steps to turning this campaign around for Los Angeles at length. The decisions there are too controversial, and too numerous, to be fully enumerated here.

But suffice it to say that health for this roster will be a key piece of that formula, whatever it looks like.

Rookie linemen Travis Burke, Logan Taylor, and Alex Harkey have done about as well as you can expect them to do since being thrust into action, but the trio allowed a combined eight pressures on Sunday (four of which came from Harkey) and was less than effective in the run game. Getting Alt back will be a major development in and of itself, but being able to slot in Awosika and remove both sixth-round rookies from the starting lineup would give Los Angeles a chance to turn things around there.

It's also gone under the radar what Chris O'Leary has been able to accomplish defensively with both James and Jackson now out for multiple matchups this season. Those players are the two cornerstones of Los Angeles' secondary at the moment, and although the unit as a whole took a slight step back against Kansas City, the Chargers' passing defense on the season has been solid—especially considering the opposing field position and turnovers they've needed to work with. Getting both of those pieces back could help O'Leary take this unit up another notch.

The receiving corps, meanwhile, doesn't seem like it has much hope without McConkey—who was not included on this list—fully available. Concussion protocol is always tenuous, but the bye week should increase McConkey's chances of returning to the fold in Week 8 rather significantly. Having Harris active to complement, or supersede, the efforts of Quentin Johnston will also be a major development.

We saw what this roster looked like at full strength at the start of the season, and it wasn't good. There are no illusions here about some sudden, miraculous turnaround.

But the Chargers simply need a dash of hope right now, and the bye week can help provide that in the form of some much needed rest.

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