LA Chargers: 3 real reasons why the offense has been struggling

3. The defense does not allow the offense to get in any kind of rhythm

While the offense and defense are separated and have their own different issues, the defense is causing the offense to play worse. The Chargers defense has been really disappointing this year and talent-wise it should be much better than it is.

The run defense has been the main culprit all season but in Week 10 it was the banged-up secondary. The Chargers were missing two starters in Nasir Adderley and Michael Davis and it showed. Asante Samuel Jr. has been far from perfect as a rookie and Chris Harris has been really bad.

Tevaughn Campbell was the main culprit from Week 10 but it does not matter. The fact is that the secondary played poorly and the Vikings converted every big moment that they needed to convert. Minnesota dominated the time of possession, keeping the Chargers from ever getting in a rhythm.

That has been the case all year as teams have been able to run the ball on the Chargers and milk the clock away. The Chargers currently rank 25th in the league in time of possession, averaging just 28.30 minutes of possession per game.

It is not like the Chargers are getting stuffed early in drives and are punting the ball away to cause this. The Bolts have only punted 30 times and have only turned the ball over nine times in nine games, which is among the fewest in the league.

The defense has not been able to get teams off the field and that absolutely has a negative impact on the offense. Heck, the Chargers rank second in the league in average plays per offensive drive this season! The problem is that they rank dead-last in average plays per drive on defense.

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Having the defense struggle like this and not allowing the offense to get into a rhythm only compounds the issues we already addressed.