After four games, after two victories and two defeats, what are we to make of the Chargers? Are they a contender or a pretender at this point in the 2024 season? Do they have the depth to rise from the vast ranks of the NFL’s middle to secure a wild-card spot by Week 18?
Those and other questions will be answered in due time, of course. More immediately, here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next after a gritty but ultimately futile Sunday afternoon against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at SoFi Stadium:
THE BIG PICTURE
The Chargers were probably destined for a break-even record going into the bye week this week. They beat the Las Vegas Raiders and Carolina Panthers, two teams that weren’t expected to advance to the playoffs. They then lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chiefs with injuries mounting.
So, what we’ve learned is that the Chargers can win games they’re expected to win and fight like hell in games in which they’re not favored to win by the oddsmakers. We’ve also learned — and this stands out — that when their top players are sidelined or slowed by injuries, the going gets tougher.
Quarterback Justin Herbert continues to gain the respect of his teammates, coaches, fans, media members and anyone else who happens to catch a glimpse of him pushing through injuries. The latest to hold him in its grip is a high sprain of his right ankle, a significant injury.
It didn’t help Sunday that the Chiefs were able to swarm the Chargers’ makeshift offensive line, with tackles Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater sitting out because of knee and pectoral injuries. Herbert didn’t have enough time to hit his targets and his mobility was limited, so he couldn’t improvise, either.
“We’ve just got to get Justin another half-second or second,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said of the protection. “We really do. He’s trying to get the ball out as fast as he possibly can, and he is. Some of those throws he made, I mean, I don’t have the adjective for it, but it’s warrior-like.
“It’s everything within his human power. (But) we do need to get him just another second.”
Two passes, in particular, stood out Sunday.
Both involved threading the ball through a sliver of an opening in the Chiefs’ defense. The first went for a 7-yard touchdown to rookie wide receiver Ladd McConkey in the first quarter. The second fell incomplete, but he nearly connected with running back J.K. Dobbins for a big gain in the fourth.
In each case, Herbert threw the ball to a point in which only the intended target could catch it, noticing that the defender had his back turned to the line of scrimmage and couldn’t make the play on the ball. One pass clicked and the other didn’t, but it made you wonder: What if it had?
The bottom line for Herbert and the Chargers is that he and Alt and Slater must be healthy in time for the Chargers’ next game after this week’s bye week, when they play the Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium on Oct. 13. The Chargers at anything less than full strength aren’t playoff material.
“I look at those guys in that locker room and I know that everyone else in the locker room would do it, as well,” Herbert said of playing hurt Sunday. “Everyone’s not feeling great. It’s the NFL. It’s a tough and brutal game. I know that I left everything I had out there. I felt comfortable. Our communication with the training staff has been great all week. I know those guys in the locker room would do the same thing.”
DEFENSIVE DOMINATION
At times, the Chargers defense made the Chiefs’ explosive offense look downright pedestrian, and that was with outside linebacker Joey Bosa sidelined by a nagging hip injury and safety Derwin James Jr. serving a one-game suspension imposed by the NFL for too many illegal tackles.
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The Chargers have given up only 50 points so far this season, the fewest in the NFL among teams to have played four games. The Seattle Seahawks (3-0) had given up only 43 points in three games going into their “Monday Night Football” matchup against the Detroit Lions (2-1).
WHAT COMES NEXT
The Chargers (2-2) have two weeks to rest, recover and rehabilitate their many injuries before facing the Broncos (2-2) in Denver on Oct. 13. They play the Arizona Cardinals (1-3) next in Glendale, Arizona, on Oct. 21 before returning home to play host to the New Orleans Saints (2-2) on Oct. 27.
