The Los Angeles Chargers ended their three-game losing streak in Week 13, but it was not the kind of win that would make one feel much better about their team – more of a shrug and a feeling of “well, a win’s a win, I guess.” The Chargers went on the road against the New England Patriots – and, in a downpour that caused both offenses to struggle to get much done, the Chargers won by a measly score of 6-0. There are not a lot of positives to take away from a game like this – but if there was a shining point at all for the Chargers, that would be the defense.
Chargers Defense Lifts Team in Historically Ugly Win
Fighting the Elements
Just to lay out how ugly this game was – while there may have been wins where the Chargers have played objectively worse and won, this is their lowest-scoring win in franchise history. They have never scored this few points and still won. Their previous lowest score in a win was seven points, done twice.
As previously mentioned, neither team was able to get much going on offense due to the heavy rain – neither team managed 300 yards of offense. Justin Herbert accounted for most of the yards for the Chargers, but neither quarterback could pass that far accurately due to visibility and the difficulties of gripping a wet ball. (And of course, Bailey Zappe is not the most accurate passer in general.)
Herbert finished with 212 passing yards and averaged 5.7 yards per attempt. And while the Patriots had some degree of success running the ball, the Chargers did not – Austin Ekeler had likely the worst game of his career, getting only 18 yards on 14 carries for a measly 1.3 yards per carry. Aside from Herbert (who still played below-average), perhaps the best thing about the Chargers offense on the day was that they had zero turnovers.
Defense Takes Advantage of Another Poor Offense
For all of the flack that has been thrown the way of the Chargers defense – and justifiably so – they have mostly taken care of business when it comes to the worst offenses and quarterbacks. Case in point: their performances against the Chicago Bears and New York Jets. The weather hampering the already-poor Patriots offense even more than usual surely helped, but Chargers defenders were out there making plays.
Most notable was Khalil Mack, who had two sacks in the game, and thus tied his career season-high of 15 sacks, and is just half a sack away from reaching the 100-sack mark. Mack has been having a career year which has been sadly wasted amidst the Chargers floundering this season. Other notable players included Eric Kendricks, who led the team in tackles and had a sack of his own. Derwin James was not far behind him, who got a drive-ending sack late in the game on Zappe that caused a turnover on downs – which proved to be the Patriots last decent chance at getting points. Also of note was Tuli Tuipulotu, who forced and then recovered a fumble from Rhamondre Stevenson – the only takeaway for either team.
Regardless of how ugly it may have been and how weak the opposing offense was, the Chargers defense pitched a shutout. That, at least, is something for them to be proud of. If only we could reasonably expect them to play at this level against non-bottom-tier teams.
Career Day for a Punter
Special teams also did their contribution to the win. While the defense was certainly primarily responsible for the Patriots shutout, punter JK Scott played a part in that as well. He set a franchise record with seven punts inside the 20-yard line – including one at the one-yard line. That might actually have been the best play of the game – which says something about how ugly the game overall was. Still, Scott played very well and received a game ball for his efforts.
In Conclusion
As said earlier, a win’s a win, but this win does not do much to inspire confidence in the team. Sure, the defense pitched a shutout, and they certainly deserve a certain amount of credit for that. But it was against a 2-10 team, and in bad weather conditions that their own offense couldn’t do much in either. It may have been an anomaly performance, but it shouldn’t be taken as a sign of an incoming turnaround.
Still, if they are going to attempt to make an improbable (and frankly unlikely at this point) playoff run, they are likely going to have to win out to get there. And ugly this one may have been – historically ugly, even – but an ugly win is still better than a pretty loss, especially in a precarious position like that. Chargers fans just shouldn’t get that excited about this particular ugly win.
Main Photo: David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports
