Trey Lance's ugly Chargers opener gives Mike McDaniel scary Tua flashbacks

Mike McDaniel knows a thing or two about coaching mediocre quarterbacks. After all, his entire tenure as Miami Dolphins head coach was spent with Tua Tagovailoa as his signal-caller.

McDaniel coached his first game as LA Chargers offensive coordinator on Thursday, and in some ways, it was a trip down memory lane. While he's not a southpaw, Trey Lance made sure to do his best Tua impression for his new offensive coordinator.

Lance played poorly in the half-plus of action he received against the Texans; he completed 12 of 20 passes for 164 yards with an interception. The interception was particularly noteworthy, as Lance completely missed the Texans’ zone defense, giving Kamari Ramsey the easiest takeaway of his career.

If you didn't know better, you would've thought Tua threw this pass.

Even Mike McDaniel may not be able to fix Trey Lance

Lance is one of the biggest draft whiffs in recent NFL history. The San Francisco 49ers sold the farm to move up to the third-overall pick to take Lance, who wound up starting four total games for Kyle Shanahan’s club. San Francisco was only saved by Mr. Irrelevant himself, Brock Purdy.

Lance then had a forgettable tenure as a backup in Dallas where the most notable thing he did was throw five interceptions against the Chargers in the 2024 preseason. That didn't deter Jim Harbaugh, who has entrusted Lance as Justin Herbert’s backup for two years now.

McDaniel did his best with Tua, and to his credit, it earned the Alabama quarterback a contract he almost certainly wouldn’t have received otherwise. That pairing had a baked-in ceiling, though, and naturally ran its course as Tyreek Hill came down from his prime.

There’s enough evidence to show that Lance won't reach the same heights as Tua, as low as those heights are to begin with. But Lance can do a great job replicating the worst version of Tua, as he did on Thursday.

Thankfully, the Chargers don't need to rely on Trey Lance

This matters a whole lot less in Los Angeles than it did in Miami due to the massive elephant in the room: Justin Herbert. McDaniel may not be able to save Lance from his Tagovailoaian fate, but he doesn't need to worry at all about Herbert.

Herbert is one of the most talented quarterbacks who has been held back by his situations for most of his career. Now he has the situation he finally deserves with an offensive coordinator who can do freakish things with the talent he has under center.

Many wondered what McDaniel was capable of if he had an above-average QB in Miami. Chargers fans have dreamt of what Herbert could do with a truly great play-caller. It's the perfect marriage that convinced McDaniel to come to LA in the first place. Together, Herbert and McDaniel can genuinely rewrite was an elite NFL offense looks like.

(It's also nightmare fuel for Emmanuel Acho, who gained notoriety for dismissing Herbert in favor of Tua all the way back when Brandon Staley was the Chargers’ head coach. But that's a conversation for another day.)

The Chargers just have to hope that they’re never forced to turn to Lance to play meaningful snaps in 2026. Thursday’s preseason game proved he still isn't ready for that, even with Mike McDaniel.

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