The Los Angeles Chargers suffered their worst loss in a long time on Sunday against the New England Patriots when they lost 45-0 and fell to 3-9 as a result. While there were multiple factors, a major part was the beyond horrific play of the special teams unit. That unit’s been another somewhat understated part of the team’s struggles this year (blocked punts and long returns given up), but it remained understated for a while–in part because for a while, the losses seemed to come down more to different facets more prominently. But in the Patriots game, the Chargers special teams reached a new level of awful play that was a big part of the loss.
Los Angeles Chargers Special Teams Reaches New Level of Awful Play
What Happened
The special teams unit struggled in multiple facets. For starters, Michael Badgley missed a field goal – not really an eyebrow-raiser, but it’s become more common lately for him. But everything went way downhill from there. Another kick was blocked and returned for a touchdown on the final play of the first half thanks to some horrendous blocking. They also allowed one punt return touchdown and another long return. 14 points were given up directly because of special teams, plus an additional field goal if you count the punt return that put the Chargers red zone.
Most alarmingly bad of all was some of the personnel mistakes. Three times on punt plays, there were not the correct number of players out there (yes, you read that right). Twice there were only 10 people on the field. On another occasion, there were 12 people on the field when the Patriots were punting – and it resulted in a first down.
Granted, it probably wouldn’t have mattered that much in terms of the final outcome, because the Chargers were dominated in all facets in this game. But if you take the two special teams touchdowns given up off the board, and give them the two field goals, the score would’ve been 14-6 at the half instead of 28-0. That sounds a lot better and the team would probably be more motivated at that point.
Coaching Problems
One might be inclined to look to the special teams coordinator, George Stewart, as being to blame for this debacle. And while that certainly has been true for much of the season, he actually got reassigned recently to some kind of senior offensive analyst role. Keith Burns (formerly the assistant special teams coach) and Chris Caminiti took over the job. Unfortunately, things just somehow got much worse as they committed repeated gaffes of a sort you wouldn’t think possible to repeat. Anthony Lynn seems to be having trouble identifying the real problem.
Does This Sound Familiar?
If the sound of horrific special teams hindering the Chargers sounds familiar, that’s because it is. Back in 2010, the team had arguably the worst special teams unit of all time and probably set a record for surrendering the most blocked punts in a single season. That special teams unit was pretty much the difference in that season too, because they had the #1 offense and defense that season – and yet finished 9-7, thanks heavily to that truly awful unit.
The question is if the 2020 unit is as bad as the 2010 one. Up until the Patriots game, I wouldn’t have really seen the comparison. They were bad for sure, but not historically bad. But the number of gaffes committed in one game in this game puts them in the conversation. And having the incorrect number of players on the field on a punt *three times* is something that even that 2010 unit probably couldn’t dream of.
Last Word
After this game, the special teams unit personnel and their coaching need to be evaluated again. To be fair, when you’ve already made one switch, it’s hard to know what one can do mid-season to fix the problem. And in terms of playoff hopes, it doesn’t matter that much since at 3-9 the Chargers have officially been eliminated from playoff contention. But it’s going to be hard for them to have any chance at finishing strong if this level of ineptitude from the special teams continues.
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