Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh is not worried about the team’s back-to-back losses to open the season 0–2.
The Chargers lost their season opener to the Arizona Cardinals, 26–14. On Sunday, they lost again to division rival the Las Vegas Raiders by the same score.
Harbaugh said after that the challenge was losses in the game’s margins, and that he expected the team to work through it.
“I’m not deterred. No one in that locker room is deterred,” he said. “The way we fought, that’s what it’s going to take. We’re going to have to fight our way out of this.”
Turnovers wrecked the Chargers’ momentum. The Bolts fumbled the ball 6 times, though they only gave up 1 to the Raiders’ defense. But quarterback Justin Herbert threw 2 interceptions. Penalties also doomed them: they committed 8 fouls for 45 yards, including a holding at the end of the fourth quarter that extended the margin to 26–14.
The offense also failed to move the ball at all. Herbert completed just 15 of 27 passes for 192 yards, a touchdown, and the 2 interceptions. He was sacked 3 times. Running back Omarion Hampton was the team’s leading rusher with 23 carries for 94 yards and a touchdown. But the rest of the offense added just 33 more yards for a total of 127.
“The ‘why’ is what we’re talking about,” Harbaugh said of the mistakes. “We’ll look at the tape. We’ll go back to work … And [we’ll] find our way, find the way, and we’ll move forward. It’s a one-week league.”
Despite the loss and the offense’s struggles, Harbaugh said the offense showed fight, which convinced him that the team will bounce back.
“It’s not where we want to be, but I saw it in our team,” he said. “I saw the fight, saw the [sense of competition].”
The offense similarly struggled against the Arizona Cardinals. In that game, Herbert went 17 of 27 passing for 209 yards, a TD, and an interception; he was sacked three times. The Bolts only managed a total of 81 yards on the ground; Hampton led the way with 12 carries for 43 yards and a score.
A reporter asked Harbaugh whether he had concerns about where the offense—led by new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel—is at two weeks in. Harbaugh reiterated that he was not deterred.
“I don’t point the [finger] in one direction. And this is a team that’s got the competitiveness; they’ve got the fight. We’ve got the guys, we’ve got the coaches, [we’ve] just got to find our way,” he said.
Harbaugh was then asked whether there was work to do to improve the offense going forward.
“There’s always work to do,” he said. “We didn’t make the jump that we wanted [from] week one to week two in some of those margins, in some of those areas. But that’s all we can do. That’s all we know how to do.”
The two opening losses sting in particular because the Chargers were expected to be one of the better teams in the AFC, going against two rebuilding organizations.
Unfortunately for the Chargers, they now face a gauntlet of a schedule ahead of their bye week in October.
This coming Sunday, they face the Buffalo Bills, who have put up 77 points in their first two wins of the season. Next, they travel to Seattle to take on the defending champion Seahawks. They then have back-to-back division matchups with the Denver Broncos in Los Angeles and the Kansas City Chiefs in Kansas City before the bye.
