The Los Angeles Chargers suffered a 23-22 loss to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, putting an end to their six-game winning streak. While it would be pretty easy to look at this game and blame the loss on kicker Michael Badgley’s missed extra point, that was certainly not the only cause of the loss. The Chargers defense deserves blame as well. While they’ve been playing mostly fine lately, they’ve tended to let up a bit in the second half. They’ve been “bending but not breaking.” However, on Sunday they finally “broke” and gave up just too much on defense.
Los Angeles Chargers Defense Falters Late in Loss to Denver Broncos
First Half vs. Second Half
From a defensive perspective, you could kind of consider this game tale of two halves. In the first half, they only allowed seven points. They didn’t force any turnovers, but they were keeping the Broncos offense pretty much locked down. It helped that they were getting pressure, probably due in part to the return of Joey Bosa.
Even the second half didn’t get off to that bad of a start. It wasn’t until late in the third quarter that things unraveled somewhat after Philip Rivers threw a rare interception. Then, in the final 20 minutes of the game, the Chargers gave up 16 points after hardly giving up anything else all game. This included a couple rather large pass plays on the game-winning drive, specifically a long catch by Courtland Sutton that put them in range for the game-winning field goal. And *that* catch came just after the team had been pushed back by an offensive pass interference call.
A Familiar Sight?
This actually isn’t the first time this season that the Chargers defense (particularly the pass defense) has fallen apart in the second half. This is simply the first time that it’s resulted in a loss. Three times in the last four weeks, this has happened where the opposing team has gotten back into the game and made Chargers fans nervous.
Back in Week Seven, against the Tennessee Titans, they only allowed six points in the first half. But then they allowed 13 points in the second half, and actually almost lost that game when the Titans scored late and went for a two-point conversion to win it. And in the Seattle Seahawks game two weeks later, they only gave up seven points in the second half, but still very nearly allowed a game-tying drive that was only stopped at the one-yard line. Three times now in four games this has happened.
Looking Ahead
The Chargers will get to play the 2-8 Arizona Cardinals next week, who are coming off a loss to the also 2-8 Oakland Raiders. That should be good for whatever ails them. However, they’re going to have to avoid such gaffes on defense late in games in December. They’ll have to play opponents such as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. Maybe having Bosa back will help with that as he gets more used to game action again.
But they still seem to have a problem at cornerback. Aside from Casey Hayward, they haven’t been able to get much consistency at the position. Desmond King’s been the closest, but the team simply won’t let him out of the nickel/slot area. But Trevor Williams and Michael Davis just haven’t been effective enough. And safety Jahleel Addae’s been inconsistent as well. They’re going to have to figure this stuff out down the stretch, particularly if they want to go far in the playoffs.
