{"id":56584,"date":"2019-01-14T20:56:25","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T01:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnfl.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=56584"},"modified":"2019-01-14T20:56:25","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T01:56:25","slug":"los-angeles-chargers-defense-underwhelms-season-ending-playoff-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/01\/14\/los-angeles-chargers-defense-underwhelms-season-ending-playoff-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Chargers Defense Disappoints in Season-Ending Playoff Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> 2018 season has come to an end with a 41-28 loss to the New England Patriots<\/a>. Although the score may make it seem somewhat close, it really wasn\u2019t. The Patriots were up 35-7 at the half and although the score was tied at 7-7 early, the Patriots ran away with it after that. This puts an end to the best season the Chargers had played since 2009 when they went 13-3. Obviously, with a loss like this, there are multiple factors to blame. But the biggest gaffe here is the performance of the defense, who completely locked down the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> in Wildcard Weekend but did hardly anything against Tom Brady<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s Patriots on Divisional Weekend.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Los Angeles Chargers Defense Underwhelms in Loss to New England Patriots\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n

Lack of Flexibility\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

It may seem unfair to expect the Chargers to shut down Brady the same way they shut down Lamar Jackson<\/strong><\/a>. And it is. But given the way they played against the Ravens, it still seemed fair to expect something good against the Patriots (even if not as good). Part of the problem wasn\u2019t\u00a0actually the\u00a0defense, though. It was the stubbornness of the coaching.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Chargers came in and ran a zone defense much of the day. The problem is, it wasn\u2019t working. Brady was dicing them up with it. And that kind of defense seemed ideal for him to dump it off to James White<\/a><\/strong> in the flats. Speaking of which, there was scarcely any coverage in the flats all day. The scheme was not working.\u00a0So,\u00a0what did they do? They stuck with it until the game was long out of range. Whether that falls on defensive coordinator Gus Bradley<\/strong> or head coach Anthony Lynn<\/a><\/strong> or both, that was a crucial mistake. Both have been generally quite good this year; Bradley was especially good in the previous game against the Ravens. A mistake of that magnitude is uncharacteristic of him (or Lynn for that matter). They will have to learn from it in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Low Voltage Across the Board\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

Although the failures of the defense could be partially blamed on the coaching, the fact\u00a0still remains\u00a0that they just did not play well. Giving up 41 points is not good no matter how you look at it. The pass rush was not getting enough pressure most of the time. And the tackling was quite poor. Although they didn\u2019t employ the same strategy with putting mostly defensive backs at linebacker positions<\/a>, they still did put Adrian Phillips<\/strong><\/a> out there again, so between him and\u00a0Uchenna\u00a0Nwosu<\/strong>, one would\u2019ve expected more out of that “linebacker” core. But White and Sony Michel<\/a><\/strong> were able to run all over them and the front four.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Another problem was that they could not cover Julian Edelman<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0He had nine catches for 151 yards. This was somewhat surprising as he was matched up with Desmond King<\/a><\/strong> for most of the way, who\u2019s been a standout at the cornerback position and has played the nickel\/slot position quite well. And no one else could seem to cover him either. One of the few positives was that they held\u00a0Rob Gronkowski<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>to only one catch, but that didn\u2019t matter much since Edelman, White and Michel were able to shred them anyway.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And That\u2019s the Season\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

The loss doesn\u2019t completely fall on the defense either. After an early beautiful touchdown throw from Philip Rivers<\/a><\/strong> to Keenan Allen<\/a><\/strong>, the offense went dead silent for quite a while. They recovered later, but they only scored seven points in the first half. Against the Patriots, that\u2019s generally just not going to work. The special teams had some problems too. King muffed a critical punt return in the third quarter, which the Patriots recovered. (If it wasn\u2019t obvious, King really did not do well in this game.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And\u00a0thus,\u00a0the Chargers 2018 season comes to an end. The good news is that with a strong young defense led by the likes of Joey Bosa<\/strong><\/a> and Derwin James<\/a><\/strong>, the future is bright. The bad news is that Philip Rivers probably only has about two good years left in him. Unless the Chargers\u00a0are able to\u00a0get lucky with their next starting quarterback, the Super Bowl window may be very short. Still, there\u2019s no reason to not expect another strong season and a return to the playoffs in 2019 for the Chargers.<\/p>\n

Main Photo:
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>