2. Offense shows late spark

Through two quarters, the Chargers offense looked much like what we’ve seen for the first month of the season.

Mike McDaniel’s unit scored just six points in the opening half, compiling just 92 yards of offense and converting once on seven tries on third downs.

Herbert was particularly off early, throwing an interception on the first play from scrimmage and adding another one later in the half.

All in all, Herbert completed just five of 14 in the first half for 36 yards and a quarterback rating of 4.8.

“Just trying to make a play. I can’t do that and can’t turn the ball over like that. Just have to be more careful with it,” Herbert said.

He later added: “It’s better to throw the ball away or go scramble. There’s plenty of other things I can do.”

But the Bolts offense came to life in the second half by scoring a touchdown on their only drive of the third quarter. Herbert tossed a 9-yard touchdown pass to Kimani Vidal.

The Chargers scored on their next drive, too, which ended with a 2-yard touchdown run from Omarion Hampton.

And when Cameron Dicker kicked a 35-yard field goal to cut the deficit to seven points, the Chargers were on a 17-3 spurt on the road against one of the NFL’s best defenses.

“We got the players, skilled coaches. We’re going to keep going for that breakthrough,” Harbaugh said. “Back-to-back touchdown drives, that was a good sign. It’s what staying the course looks like, believing in our guys, believing in our team and moving forward.”

He later added: “Just keep playing. They were playing and competing. Playing and not worrying, just work and don’t worry. That formula.”

Herbert helped the offense put up 200-plus yards in the second half as the unit was also 4-of-8 on third downs.

“I feel like there was a lot of good things in the second half,” Herbert said. “I appreciated the battle and the fight from everyone and being able to string out some of those long drives is really important for us. Hopefully that’s something we can build off of.”

“There were a lot of good things so if we can build off that, keep moving forward and correct some of the things that we went wrong, I think that would be very helpful for us,” Herbert added.

The challenge now will be putting together a full 60-minute effort to help the Bolts secure their first win of 2026.

“We just got to focus on starting that earlier,” Strange said. “If we can get like that in the first quarter, man, we can really get some momentum and have a decent season. But if you wait until the second half to start making plays then you’re not going to win very often.”