Be careful what you wish for when you’re wishing for a new offensive coordinator.
Chargers fans were so over Greg Roman. Anything would be better than his run-heavy scheme stunting quarterback Justin Herbert’s anticipated ascension. Anyone would be preferable to the man holding the reins while the Chargers scored just three points in last season’s wild-card loss to the New England Patriots, after which Roman was fired.
Anyone such as, say, former Miami Dolphins coach and purported offensive guru Mike McDaniel?
Yeah?
About that.
Somehow, after just two games, the Chargers’ offense under McDaniel has Bolts fans wishing anyone else was running the show. Roman included.
Because Roman wouldn’t have overcomplicated a third-and-inches play-call. He wouldn’t have had the 6-foot-6, 240-pound Herbert line up in shotgun and call for motion.
And the subsequent snap wouldn’t have hit receiver Tre’ Harris before it got to Herbert. And instead of losing five yards and having Herbert, in a rare show of emotion, slapping the turf in frustration, the Chargers probably would have gotten a fresh set of downs.
So far, McDaniel’s brief Chargers’ tenure hasn’t just been a disappointment. It has, through two games, been a disaster. Because the Chargers really needed these first two wins against opponents who both won only three games last season.
Instead, the Chargers’ offense looked as disjointed and discombobulated in Sunday’s 26-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders as it did the previous week in their 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
It was an unwanted second helping of “humble pie,” as McDaniel described the Chargers’ Week 1 defeat. And it was nasty.
Now the Chargers’ schedule is about to come at them fast, with their next games against the Buffalo Bills, the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs and then the Rams, the preseason Super Bowl favorites.
After consecutive 11-win seasons under Jim Harbaugh — who’d never lost to the Raiders and never previously lost two consecutive games to start a season — the Chargers might blink and find themselves 0-7.
What’s worse than frustratingly quick postseason exits? Not making the playoffs at all.
And the Chargers are going to need to engineer a quick turnaround if they’re going to be among the 15% of teams that start a season 0-2 and still reach postseason play.
To do that, they’ll need to score more points. They’ll need to stop shooting themselves in the proverbial feet and take some better shots downfield. Stop dropping the ball — figuratively, literally. They fumbled six times Sunday!
And stop thinking so much. Sundays are for reacting, and any amount of thinking is overthinking.
Maybe it’s personnel? The fact that, outside of Ladd McConkey, the Chargers are short on receivers who can reliably create separation.
Maybe it’s just a matter of time that the Chargers don’t have much of, cramming to learn McDaniel’s methods, to dial in the timing and coordination.
Or maybe, for McDaniel, it’s as simple as simplifying what he’s trying to do with this Chargers offense.
When he was hired in January, the prevailing thought was that the cerebral partnership between McDaniel and Herbert would prove a perfect match.
Even though McDaniel was dismissed after the Dolphins missed the playoffs two consecutive seasons, the coach — who’d developed a reputation as a talented offensive mind under Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers — was a hot commodity on the coaching market.
McDaniel reportedly drew interest from the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Bills and Raiders. But he opted to come to L.A. to work with Herbert as the All-Pro QB’s fifth offensive coordinator in seven seasons (following three offensive coordinators in his four years at Oregon).
Starting over again, in these two games with McDaniel, Herbert has thrown for a modest 401 yards, just two touchdowns and three interceptions — though one of them bounced off David Njoku’s hands Sunday.
There have also been protection problems, fumbles, a missed field goal, and lots of penalties — including four on star left tackle Joe Alt, who was called for a hold that resulted in a safety on an anything-that-can-go-wrong-will-go-wrong Sunday.
“I’m not looking in any one direction,” Harbaugh said Sunday. “I’m looking at it all.”
On TV, Herbert appeared to be looking off into space on the sideline as McDaniel sat chattering beside him, the game mercifully winding down.
Asked what McDaniel’s message was to the offense, Herbert said: “I haven’t been able to speak with him after.”
There’s a lot to talk about, but be careful what you ask.
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