{"id":1000515,"date":"2026-09-14T11:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1000515\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T11:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T11:15:20","slug":"chargers-waste-chance-to-seize-l-a-spotlight-from-rams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1000515\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers waste chance to seize L.A. spotlight from Rams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It\u2019s just one game. And it\u2019s a long season.<\/p>\n

Maybe a loooong season, if you\u2019re a Chargers<\/a> fan.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s season-opening debacle \u2014 a sloppy, uninspired and uninspiring 26-14 loss<\/a> to the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium \u2014 was a first, giant step back for these Chargers.<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t call Game 1 of any season a must-win. But you can pan back and recognize that sometimes Game 1 is a really, really should-win affair.<\/p>\n

Not only because the Cardinals represented as close to a gimme as the Chargers are going to get on their precarious schedule.<\/p>\n

The road ahead of them is considered the seventh toughest in the NFL, with a gauntlet starting in Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills, followed by the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and then the Rams, the preseason Super Bowl favorites.<\/p>\n

But the Chargers also missed a prime opportunity to fill a hole in the L.A. football plot, rare as those are.<\/p>\n

There was an opening Sunday, a bleak day for those rival Rams, with news of defensive end Myles Garrett set to undergo surgery<\/a> on his left knee and be placed on injured reserve, which will force him out of at least the next four games.<\/p>\n

The development came on the heels of the Rams\u2019 disappointing 27-7 season-opening loss<\/a> to the San Francisco 49ers in Australia. And that was compounded by the Rams\u2019 travel plans being widely panned after their sluggish defeat.<\/p>\n

While the Rams are going through it, the Chargers had an opportunity to present a positive foil when Los Angeles\u2019 football fans got to Monday morning quarterbacking.<\/p>\n

Hey, dude, did you hear about Myles Garrett? <\/p>\n

I know! What a bummer!<\/p>\n

And I still can\u2019t believe they decided to fly to Australia and play fewer than 30 hours later.<\/p>\n

Right? But, man, did you see what the Chargers did to the Cardinals?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how it should have gone.<\/p>\n

\"Chargers <\/p>\n

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tries to avoid Arizona Cardinals linebacker Jack Gibbens during the Chargers\u2019 26-14 loss Sunday.<\/p>\n

(Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Instead, folks who follow the sport around here are going to be asking the opposite: Did you see what the Cardinals did to the Chargers?<\/p>\n

Yeah, the Cardinals \u2014 led by rookie head coach Mike LaFleur, the Rams\u2019 former offensive coordinator \u2014 embarrassed the Bolts at home.<\/p>\n

The team that moved up from San Diego 10 years ago promising to \u201cFight for L.A.\u201d showed none of that against Arizona, a team that won only three games last season.<\/p>\n

And that, as much as anything, should worry anyone who\u2019s invested in this Chargers team. You wanted to see the will and want-to of a team that went 11-6 each of the past two seasons and could be destined, at last, for a push in the playoffs?<\/p>\n

You hoped to see a group that\u2019s learned something about seizing a moment?<\/p>\n

You didn\u2019t see it. You saw an unfocused and unbothered bunch who, afterward, seemed mainly perplexed by their lack of execution.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Share via Close extra sharing options <\/p>\n

Sam Farmer breaks down what went wrong for the Chargers in their 26-14 season-opening loss to the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

By the fact that they were outgained 393 to 268 in total yardage. By their seven ill-timed penalties for 64 yards.<\/p>\n

By Jacoby Brissett<\/a> outdueling Justin Herbert<\/a>, who completed just 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards, with a touchdown and an interception, one of the Chargers\u2019 two turnovers \u2014 compared with none from the Cardinals.<\/p>\n

By the fact that Herbert \u2014 despite a revamped offensive line \u2014 was sacked three times, including losing 13 yards on a pivotal fourth-down play in the second quarter, when the Chargers went for it from the three.<\/p>\n

It was a substantial upset as far as openers go because the Chargers were favored to win by 9\u00bd points, more than any other team Sunday.<\/p>\n

It was also coach Jim Harbaugh<\/a>\u2019s first loss in seven NFL season openers, which you wouldn\u2019t have guessed watching his woefully unprepared team struggle in every facet.<\/p>\n

And it won\u2019t be lost on anyone how uncoordinated the Chargers\u2019 operation seemed behind its new coordinators.<\/p>\n

Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel is supposed to unlock new levels for Herbert. But Herbert had only 15 pass attempts entering the third quarter \u2014 as few as in any game in his previous six NFL seasons.<\/p>\n

And under new defensive coordinator Chris O\u2019Leary \u2014 despite working with most of the same personnel Jesse Minter had in his two successful seasons in L.A. \u2014 the Chargers had trouble containing one of the NFL\u2019s least imposing offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was,\u201d safety Derwin James Jr.<\/a> said, \u201ca complete team loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just execution,\u201d Herbert said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t execute on third down and we had too many turnovers … Everything is just on us to go out and execute the game plan … It\u2019s on us to be able to execute the protection plan, get the ball out, and do everything that we need to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Harbaugh: \u201cHave to get things to get better, for sure. You know, better job coaching, better job practicing, better job executing. All those things need to be elevated.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the only thing achieved by the Chargers falling so flat Sunday? It might have lifted the Rams\u2019 spirits a modicum. They have their problems, but at least they\u2019re not the Chargers; at least they didn\u2019t just get completely out-executed by the Arizona Cardinals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s just one game. And it\u2019s a long season. Maybe a loooong season, if you\u2019re a Chargers fan.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1000516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[390,1327,241,20377,131158,7,853,1159,131155,131157,131156,1014,58,539,2444,2611,6,29207,424,185,1285],"class_list":["post-1000515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-arizona-cardinals","tag-cardinals","tag-chargers","tag-debacle","tag-defensive-end-myles-garrett","tag-football","tag-game","tag-justin-herbert","tag-l-a-football-plot","tag-l-a-spotlight","tag-long-season","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-nfl","tag-ram","tag-rams","tag-team","tag-yard"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117269110967629628","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1000515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1000515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1000516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1000515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1000515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1000515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}