While the Los Angeles Chargers have played host to a handful of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, this franchise remains among the more snakebitten across the entire league. Even going into a season with the mighty Justin Herbert as the starting quarterback hasn't prevented the injury bug from hurting this team.
With Herbert and JC Jackson playing through injuries, the Chargers have fallen to 1-2 after getting run out of SoFi Stadium by the Jaguars. Their misery was compounded by injuries that will sideline Joey Bosa on a week-to-week basis and knock out Jalen Guyton for the remainder of the 2022 season.
The Chargers are suffering an unusually high number of injuries for just three weeks into the season, many of which are non-contact. Players on the team are starting to get fed up with their playing surface.
Defensive lineman Breiden Fehoko has come out as a vocal opponent of turf fields in the NFL, saying that the league needs to "get rid of them ASAP" in an angry tweet. Fehoko has a point, as SoFi's field may have contributed to LA's misfortune.
No more turf fields in sports. Get rid of them ASAP!
— Fehoko Show (@breidenfehoko4) September 27, 2022
The Los Angeles Chargers play on a bad turf field.
While there is a degree of bad luck involved with most injuries, it can't be a coincidence that teams like LA who play on turf fields appear to be suffering more impactful, year-ending knocks. SoFi Stadium cost more to build than the entire GDP of some small countries, yet they can't get a decent playing surface?
This issue is not endemic to SoFi, putting further credence to Fehoko's argument. MetLife Stadium has been known as one of the league's worst fields for years. Both the 49ers and Jets suffered season-ending injuries in a 2020 game on that field, and the Giants lost wide receiver Sterling Shephard last night.
This has been going on for years, as Bosa said that he felt beat up physically during his first full season on the new LA turf. How many more blown-out ACLs and ligament injuries does the NFL need to see before they finally abandon this field construction once and for all? Was Odell Beckham in the Super Bowl not enough?
Joey Bosa said he feels physically beat up after playing on the new SoFi Stadium turf. He said he feels that way with every turf field #Chargers
— Gilbert Manzano (@GManzano24) September 28, 2020
The Chargers are not just complaining to cope with their recent glut of injuries. Multiple teams across the league have the exact same complaints. If this is what it takes to finally get the NFL to switch to permanent grass fields until the end of time, then so be it.