As the Los Angeles Chargers round into their Week 6 matchup with an 0-5 record, the problems with this team are almost too numerous to spell out here. As easy as it may be to pin the blame all on one person, the reality is far more complicated than that.
Mike McDaniel's scheme has been sub-par to this point in the season, relying too heavily on anticipatory throws and a confusing run game distribution to seriously gain any momentum. The injuries certainly haven't helped, either, but it's clear this organization didn't do enough in the offseason to provide the offense with the talent it needs to truly click. This team, also, has been poorly coached—mistakes and miscues on the offensive side of the ball defined virtually all of their early-season losses.
Justin Herbert, for his part, has struggled to acclimate to the demands of McDaniel's scheme—and it's clear that his increased turnover rate is at least partially a result of him forcing throws and attempting to will this team back into competitiveness.
All of these things are true. And yet, as we approach the Chargers' bye, it's McDaniel's mess to fix.
His job may very well already be gone this offseason. But McDaniel, after being fired from his head coaching position with the Miami Dolphins, is fighting for more than another shot in Los Angeles. He's fighting to prove his worthiness as an offensive play caller at the NFL level, and he needs to figure out how to get Justin Herbert right again with the tools he has at his disposal if he's going to accomplish that aim.
Even if this Chargers season is a loss, Mike McDaniel needs to figure out how to unlock Justin Herbert again
Herbert has not played well to this point in the season—at least outside of certain stretches where he's put the team on his back. The Chargers are 32nd in the league in EPA/play, and Herbert's turnover-worthy play rate has jumped up to 6.7% this season—nearly triple the highest number in his career to this point.
But that statement is entirely different than to say that Herbert is at fault for the way Los Angeles' season has gone.
Coming into Los Angeles, the criticism that followed McDaniel from Miami centered around the lack of discipline and cohesiveness on his roster as well as his focus on motion and complicated play structures over simple, sustaining offense. The thought was, though, that his Dolphins offense was defined by the limitations of Tua Tagovailoa at quarterback. If he had a QB of Herbert's talent, there would theoretically be more options for him to unlock within his scheme.
The first part of that has already reared its ugly head. The Chargers are among the most penalized teams in the league, and the problem has rested primarily on the offensive side of the ball. The second part of that assumption has been drawn into serious question with the way he's handled Herbert to this point. Rather than lean on Herbert's strengths, this offense has largely continued to push Herbert into areas where he's uncomfortable, and a large portion of his turnovers and his spotty play has been a result of that.
The sign of a skilled coordinator is the ability to fit their scheme to the personnel they have at their disposal. McDaniel has objectively failed to accomplish that since his arrival in Los Angeles, and the injuries the team has suffered don't provide any substantial excuse for that failure.
Even if the Chargers are effectively eliminated from playoff contention, though, there's still 12 games left to play. Unless the West Coast scheme is just a total loss on a quarterback of Herbert's skill set, that means there's plenty of time for McDaniel to adjust his approach and figure out how to make this offense click.
At the very least, Los Angeles needs to see some life out of Herbert. He looks the most downtrodden and dejected he has in his entire NFL career, and that's on McDaniel to provide those easy completions and solutions to the offense to help Herbert gain his confidence back.
Even if we're assuming McDaniel is gone this offseason, he needs to show some signs of adjustment and improvement before the end of the season if he wants to stand any chance at earning another coordinator job past this. More importantly, though, the Chargers can't afford to let Herbert descend any further into this turmoil—and whether or not McDaniel stays, that's on him to accomplish.
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