The Los Angeles Chargers got their first blowout win of the season by a score of 30-13. The catch is that it was against the Chicago Bears (2-6) with a second-string quarterback. Still, it’s encouraging to see the Chargers look more like what most expected them to look like. Both the offense and defense did well, but the offense did most of the heavy lifting for the Chargers, especially early on. Let’s take a look and see what parts of the offense worked best – and which players were most notable on the night.
Justin Herbert, Chargers Offense Lead the Way in Week 8 Win
Comfortable and Productive
The short answer is that it was mostly Justin Herbert and the passing attack that did the work for the offense. There’s obviously more at play here than just Herbert, and we’ll get to that later. But Herbert looked the most comfortable that he has since he injured his finger – and it showed. The fact that he was playing a much less threatening defense than the Chiefs or Cowboys probably helped; Herbert took zero sacks on the night and did not face a lot of pressure. And aside from a bobbled snap on the first play, he seemed to be managing the bad finger better on Sunday. He finished 31-for-40 with 298 yards and three touchdowns.
The comfortableness of Herbert translated to the rest of the offense as well. Blocks were being set up very well by both the offensive line and receivers, allowing for designed short passes and screens to do some damage. The Bears defense offered little resistance in the secondary or the flats – and the Chargers exploited this heavily.
Ekeler Returns to Form
Austin Ekeler was a major factor in this game. He couldn’t get a whole lot going on the ground with only 29 yards on 15 carries, but he finally was a factor in the receiving game in a way we hadn’t seen since Week 1. He caught seven passes for 94 yards – which included a 39-yard touchdown that was set up by some good blocking as well as Ekeler just being great when out in space, as usual.
AUSTIN EKELER! His first receiving TD of the year 🙌
📺: #CHIvsLAC on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/afiiMv70VD pic.twitter.com/e2Dsx2Kwck— NFL (@NFL) October 30, 2023
Whether Ekeler was still hurting the last two weeks from his injury or they just weren’t designing plays for him, the offense clearly works better when he is being utilized properly – which includes being a safety valve in the passing game and creating some screens for him. It’s telling that in both of the two games where has 100+ yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, the Chargers have scored at least 30. In other words, get Ekeler the ball and good things happen.
Chargers Backup Pass-Catchers Shine
The final aspect here was the ball being successfully spread around a little more than before. Keenan Allen got double-covered a fair portion of the night, Josh Palmer was playing somewhat hurt, and Gerald Everett was out. The result was more targets and catches for other/backup Chargers receivers (though Allen still got eight catches anyway because you can only keep him down for so long)
Most notably, Quentin Johnston finally became a part of the passing game, finishing with five catches for 50 yards. We got to see the after-the-catch ability that he was drafted for on one of those plays, but he also made a couple of good catches near the sidelines. If Herbert continues to look his way more often with success, that will make the Chargers offense more difficult to stop.
Notably, Simi Fehoko of all people caught a nine-yard touchdown as well. That was his only catch; he dropped his only other target. Still, it is good to see another name making a big play for the Chargers. Donald Parham did predictably good as the TE1 as well, catching four passes for 43 yards and a touchdown and doing what he does best – using his ridiculous height and strength to make plays.
Still Room for Improvement
It wasn’t a perfect outing for the Chargers. They weren’t able to get much going in the run game –, averaging only 2.2 yards per carry with 54 total yards. They also were not as effective in the second half in general, scoring only six points. (Granted, they could’ve had at least three more points if not for a failed “4th and Staley” moment – let the reader understand.)
In this case, the lack of scoring in the second half didn’t matter as the Bears struggled too much to make it a close game in the second half. But it’s a problem that continues to crop up every so often for the Chargers offense – and against better opponents, it could prove more problematic. And we should still remember that the Bears were on their second-string quarterback and also do not have a good defense. Still, there were a lot of promising things in this win – and Herbert looking more comfortable than he has in a few weeks has to bode well.
Main Photo: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
