In the wildly unpredictable NFL, the Chargers have emerged as a rare sure bet.
They’re going to play. And they’re going to lose.
It happened again Sunday when they fell at home to Houston, 44-22, in their most lopsided loss of the season. Before a half-filled SoFi Stadium, where secondary-market ticket prices dipped below $15, the Chargers dropped to 0-8.
Dating to last season, they have lost 11 in a row, which ties a club record. They did reach the end zone for the first time in a month, however, ending a drought that lasted 37 consecutive possessions without a touchdown.
“Thirty-seven?” incredulous tight end Charlie Kolar asked, dropping his head and rubbing his eyes in frustration. “Man, I wish you hadn’t told me that.”
What’s so vexing about the futility is people had such high expectations for this team, which still has a lot of the players who fought through injuries and won 11 games in each of the past two seasons. Many outsiders predicted this would be a breakout season for Jim Harbaugh, in his third season as head coach.
Those are distant memories now as the Chargers, the NFL’s only winless team, sink deeper into the basement while inching closer to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2027 draft.
“Stay together,” the coach said, uttering words that have become a weekly refrain. “Bitter pill to swallow anytime you don’t win a game. But keep fighting.”
Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, center, walks off the field after Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
Also familiar, Justin Herbert took a beating. He was sacked eight times and left midway through the fourth quarter with an injured middle finger on his left hand. He wanted to stay in the game, Harbaugh said, but the coach decided to replace him with backup D.J. Uiagalelei.
Harbaugh said Herbert’s injury “could be a fracture.” Herbert is scheduled to undergo testing Monday.
Herbert has been sacked 31 times in eight games, putting him on pace for 66 this season. That would shatter his mark of 54 last season, which was one off the league lead.
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Chargers tight end Charlie Kolar talks about how frustrating it has been to go winless through eight games this season.
He did throw a touchdown pass on a slant to Quentin Johnston in the fourth quarter. The receiver caught the ball and left the secondary in the dust for a 58-yard score. That was the first time a Chargers player reached the end zone since an Oct. 11 loss to Denver.
It was a small consolation on a day when the Chargers’ defense was shredded by Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud, who tied a career high with five touchdown passes, including two that covered 63 yards each. He finished with 384 yards on 21-of-35 passing.
“It’s cliche, but I feel like we’re having good preparation, I feel like we’re going to win,” Kolar said. “If you just give up, it’s easier to swallow a loss. But we have the belief. It’s just we can’t win.”
The losing is taking an emotional toll, too.
“I take a lot of pride in my craft,” he said. “To be a part of an offense that’s struggling so mightily, it hurts the soul.”
Like the Chargers, the Texans got off to a lousy start this season, losing their first four games. However, they have since won three of four.
As for the Chargers, they have some prime opportunities to avoid becoming the first NFL team to go 0-17. They play at Baltimore next Monday night, and the Ravens have lost four in a row. They have lost their two top quarterbacks, but last week made a trade with Arizona for quarterback Jacoby Brissett, who beat the Chargers in the season opener.
The Chargers also have upcoming games against the New York Jets (2-7) and Miami Dolphins (1-7).
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) looks at his fingers on his left (non-throwing) hand after being sacked during the second half Sunday.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
The Texans have been tormentors of the Chargers in recent years, beating them in four of the last five meetings. That includes a lopsided win in the first round of the 2024 playoffs, and a four-point win at SoFi last season. In those two games, Houston forced five turnovers.
The Chargers encountered a setback even before kickoff. Ladd McConkey, their No. 1 receiver, had back spasms during pregame warmups and was done for the day.
At halftime, the franchise inducted former players Anthony Miller and John Carney into the Chargers Hall of Fame. The timing for Carney was coincidental. In 2000, after the team got off to an 0-11 start, he kicked a 52-yard field goal to beat Kansas City, 17-16, and thwart conjecture that the Chargers would become the first NFL team to finish 0-16.
Recalling that fateful kick, Carney said: “If you take a snapshot of the locker room after that game, and the celebration and the grown men that were crying and smoking cigars, and put it next to the locker room after we won the AFC championship game against the Steelers. Same, same, same.”
Two clubs have since worn that 0-16 albatross — the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2017 Cleveland Browns — but the regular season is now 17 games. So these Chargers, the NFL’s only winless team, would make league history should they lose their final eight games.
Recalled Carney: “That was a rough season, similar to what they’re going through right now. We were scratching and clawing for a W, and it took a long time for it to happen.”