The bye week came a little early for the Los Angeles Chargers this year – and while it wasn’t desperately needed, the Chargers are still taking advantage of it to let Justin Herbert heal up with a finger injury on his non-throwing hand. (Not that he couldn’t play if he needed to, but still.) They also had a little other business to sort out – more on that later. The Chargers are 2-2 going into the bye, and after a frankly disastrous first two weeks, things are looking up a little now – but only just, given the shaky manner in which they won the next two games.
2023 Los Angeles Chargers Bye Week Report
Unbridled Chaos
The Chargers have had a crazy start to the season. They started off by losing close games to the Miami Dolphins and Tennessee Titans, in which the pass defense looked downright inept at times. The question of whether head coach Brandon Staley would even last the whole season cropped up. Then the Chargers won two games against struggling teams – the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders – which quieted the frustration a little, but only so much, in part because of the manner in which they won those games.
In both of those wins, Brandon Staley went for it late in the game on 4th and 1 in his own territory (say, at the 30 or 35-yard line), and both times they failed – and thus the other team had a chance to win. In both cases, they were bailed out by a late interception – the one against the Vikings being sheer luck due to it being tipped. It does also feel accurate to say that twice in a row, the Chargers “won” two battles of coaches trying to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.
If anything, 2-2 feels like the accurate record to have at this point. The Chargers could easily be 4-0, but they could also easily be 0-4.
Defensive Struggles and the End of the JC Jackson Saga
There’s not much that can be said here that I haven’t already said at some point this season, but this defense has been heavily underperforming given the talent that they have – and that’s with a supposedly defensive-minded head coach. The run defense has fared a little better than the secondary – in that they haven’t been getting ripped to pieces on a weekly basis. They’ve actually been mostly fine at shutting down inside runs, but outside runs have been more iffy.
In similar fashion to last season, JC Jackson was heavily responsible for a number of the pass defense struggles – and this time, the Chargers gave up on him, benching him for Week 3 and 4 (he was even a healthy inactive in the former week), and then trading him at the start of the bye-week period. We’ve gone more in-depth on how this will affect the team, but while this is unlikely to fix all their defensive woes, it does remove the weakest link of all among the secondary starters and will allow the Chargers to run a more consistent lineup at cornerback, which had been a problem.
Improvement on the Offense
While the defense has not taken the step forward expected this year, the offense has – and that can be put heavily on offensive coordinator Kellen Moore. Justin Herbert has looked more like himself this year instead of being turned into a check-down machine, but he is still taking what the defense gives him instead of forcing the issue. Elsewhere on the passing offense, Keenan Allen has been proving that despite now being in his early 30’s, still has plenty left in the tank.
The running game looked great in Week 1 – the team rushed for over 200 yards in total. However, they lost Austin Ekeler for a few weeks in the process, and Joshua Kelley has not been able to handle the workload of a starting halfback in the meantime. Ekeler is expected to return in Week 6, and that should improve matters. We will see if Kelley can be productive again as a change-of-pace halfback instead of a starter.
Looking Ahead
It does not feel like a bold prediction to say that if the Chargers miss the playoffs this year, Brandon Staley will be fired. It is pretty clear that he is feeling the pressure of being on the hot seat – hence a couple of sharper responses than usual in press conferences. He likely knows what’s at stake for him as well as anybody else.
The Chargers are good enough on paper to hang with almost any team. The problem for them, as has been the case so often for several years, is finishing the deal, and not playing down to weaker competition. The Chargers aren’t exactly inspiring much confidence right now that they will be able to close the deal more often than not. But then again, anything’s possible; this team is hardly predictable. Perhaps the bigger question is if the fans will be able to manage what’s shaping up to be another rollercoaster season.
Main Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
