The LA Chargers boasted the top scoring defense in the NFL... then the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came into town.
Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers dropped 40 points on the Chargers in a decisive routing. It was the ugliest game of the Jim Harbaugh era thus far, and quite frankly, looked like a second half from previous seasons under Brandon Staley (on the anniversary of Staley being fired).
Jim Harbaugh didn't mince words after the Chargers' loss and his assistant coaches followed suit. When speaking to reporters for the first time after the loss, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter didn't hold back on the honesty and challenged his unit.
“I feel like we’ve done enough things together that we can look at each other. We can have hard conversations. We can have real conversations. We’re not going to sugarcoat anything," Minter said. "We’re not going to act like we did certain things good. We didn’t play the way we needed to play.”
Jesse Minter gets brutally honest about Chargers' porous defensive showing
Minter was honest with reporters about his unit's effort and he surely was even more honest with the players in the locker room. This is a direct message from Minter to all of his guys: they were not good enough on Sunday.
The players on the field don't need to hear that from their defensive coordinator in the media to know that they weren't good enough. The 40 points will do the trick. However, it should serve as a proverbial kick in the rear to not let this happen again.
More concerningly, though, was Minter's comments about how the team responded during the game. Minter admitted that there was an off-vibe on Sunday as the game started to slip away and challenged both himself and the locker room leaders to not let that happen again.
"Any time you don’t win, you’re mad and you’re frustrated, but the way that game went, there was a different vibe I haven’t felt with this group,” Minter explained. “This is where you need your leaders, the players, myself. We’ve got to be at our best. It’s a challenge. It’s an opportunity.
Minter also went on to say that the Chargers need to make sure this does not happen again or else it becomes a trend. And one it becomes a trend, the Bolts would be in serious trouble.
The Chargers won't have much time to dwell on the loss as the team is back in action on Thursday against the Denver Broncos. With both teams firmly holding a wild-card spot, this is the most important game of the season to date for the Chargers. A win essentially guarantees a playoff berth barring a fluke. A loss and suddenly things start to snowball.
Hopefully, the weird energy the Chargers had on Sunday does not carry over into Thursday's primetime game. If so, the Bolts will be in trouble and the team's coaches will be answering more tough questions.