The LA Chargers had every opportunity to fire Mike McDaniel after another embarrassing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6. If there was ever a time to let go of an offensive coordinator, it was after a six-point performance with the bye week in tow.
Instead, Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers stuck to their guns. Rather than turning the offense over to the terrifying prospect of Adam Gase, the Chargers kept McDaniel in the building despite the offense's total lack of competency this season.
Harbaugh doubled down on McDaniel and his offense on Wednesday. When speaking to reporters for the first time since the bye, Harbaugh confirmed that McDaniel would continue calling plays as the team's offensive coordinator. There is no ceremonial pass-off; this is McDaniel's sinking ship to captain.
Mike McDaniel calling offensive plays should've been expected
This might be a disappointing development for Chargers fans who want change, but it's not a surprising one. The moment the Chargers decided to keep McDaniel around, they confirmed that he would continue calling plays. We didn't need Harbaugh to tell us that.
What else were the Chargers going to do? Harbaugh is not a play-caller, and the only other offensive coordinator he's had at the NFL level is Greg Roman. He wasn't going to take over and institute a new offense that reverted back to the old scheme while McDaniel was still around.
And he definitely wasn't going to take over play-calling duties while staying true to McDaniel's scheme, although the idea of Harbaugh trying to call out McDaniel's complex plays is humorous and would at least bring some joy to fans who have suffered through a terrible season.
The only other option would be to give play-calling duties to Gase or quarterbacks coach Shane Day. But why would the Chargers do that? Why would the team keep McDaniel around just to have him play second fiddle? For better or worse, this is McDaniel's offense. As long as he is still around, he is the one calling plays.
The real threat for the Chargers is keeping McDaniel around long-term
Chargers fans shouldn't sweat over McDaniel sticking around to call plays in Week 8 of the 2026 season. In fact, it might behoove the Chargers to keep McDaniel around so the team can continue losing games, securing the path to drafting Jeremiah Smith.
The real risk is the Chargers bringing McDaniel back for a second season. And while that seems like a ludicrous proposition as the team sits here with a 0-6 record, there absolutely is a path in which the Chargers convince themselves that a second year of McDaniel is worth it.
McDaniel's offense is complex. He called it a two-year install that the Chargers were trying to learn in one season. Instead of viewing McDaniel and Justin Herbert as a fundamental miscasting, the Chargers' decision-makers could sell themselves on the idea that it's just growing pains, and that more time in the system will yield better results.
This false idol will come into focus if the Chargers piece together better offensive performances down the stretch. All it takes is a few big games against bad teams, which there are several on the schedule, for it to look like the Chargers are turning a corner.
Anyone who has watched the Chargers this season knows this is a losing battle. The offense has been bad to the point that it's losing the locker room. There's just no reasonable executive who can look at what has happened this season, regardless of any future blips of success, and run it back next year. But this is the Chargers we are talking about.
The longer McDaniel sticks around, the riskier it becomes for the future. It becomes more likely that McDaniel will hurt the Chargers' draft position to save his own image.
It's not the play-calling we are worried about. It's the fact McDaniel is still around in the first place.
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