The Chargers Score 15 Points a Game, Last in the NFL. Jim Harbaugh Is Keeping His Play-Caller.
Jim Harbaugh was asked Wednesday whether Mike McDaniel would still have the call sheet coming out of the bye. He answered with one word. “Yes.”
Then he explained it. “We’re very confident in Mike and his talent and his work ethic and his ability, and continue to be.”
The Chargers are 0-6, the only winless team left in the NFL. They average 15.0 points per game, last in the league, and they have scored nine total touchdowns, also fewest in the league. Harbaugh had two full weeks to decide whether that was a scheme problem or an execution problem, and he came out of it backing the man calling the plays.
This Is the Right Call, and It Is Not a Comforting One
Firing a play-caller in Week 8 is usually a franchise admitting it panicked in January. McDaniel has been on the job since Jan. 26 and is calling an NFL offense for the first time since 2021. Taking the sheet away now would mean Harbaugh hired the wrong man nine months ago and knew it by October. He is not prepared to say that, and he probably should not be.
Look at what the offense is working with. Center Tyler Biadasz wrecked his knee in an August joint practice with the 49ers and went on season-ending injured reserve, five months after signing a three-year, $30 million deal that was the biggest contract the Chargers handed out all offseason. Left tackle Rashawn Slater had ankle surgery on Oct. 8 and went on IR the next day. Joe Alt missed two games with a neck injury and only came off the report this week.
You cannot run any scheme behind that. Harbaugh built this team around the run and the offensive line, and the line stopped existing before Labor Day.
Justin Herbert Is Having the Worst Season of His Career by a Wide Margin
Herbert is 107 of 180 for 1,141 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions, a 59.4 percent completion rate and a 68.8 passer rating, with 21 sacks taken.
He had never finished a season under 65 percent before this one. He threw three interceptions in all of 2024, Harbaugh’s first year here. His QBR of 29.9 is the lowest in the league, and Next Gen Stats has him under pressure on 42.1 percent of his dropbacks, fifth-highest among qualifying passers.
Asked after the Kansas City loss what was not working, Herbert said, “I don’t know. If I had the answers, then we’d definitely be having a different conversation.” On Wednesday he took responsibility for the offense himself and said the fix is execution rather than a change at play-caller.
That is a quarterback on a five-year, $262.5 million contract absorbing blame for a line that cannot protect him. It is also the only thing he can say in October.
The Math Is Already Finished
No team in NFL history has made the playoffs after starting 0-6. The 1992 Chargers are the only team to do it from 0-4. This is the franchise’s worst start since 2000.
Harbaugh went 11-6 in each of his first two seasons here and lost both wild card games badly. Now the floor has dropped out. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has reported hearing there is a small chance Harbaugh does not stay much longer, and Sportsnaut put him third on its Week 8 hot seat list. Nobody has reported that a decision has been made about either coach.
Next up is the Rams on Sunday at SoFi, where the Chargers are the visiting team in their own building. What Harbaugh really said Wednesday, underneath the vote of confidence, is that he will let this play out and be judged on it. “We need to win, and that starts with today, to win today.”
There are ten games left to find out whether the play-calling was ever the problem.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
