{"id":75514,"date":"2019-10-31T23:51:53","date_gmt":"2019-11-01T03:51:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=75514"},"modified":"2019-10-31T23:51:53","modified_gmt":"2019-11-01T03:51:53","slug":"2019-los-angeles-chargers-midseason-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2019\/10\/31\/2019-los-angeles-chargers-midseason-review\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 Los Angeles Chargers Midseason Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Half of the 2019 season has come and gone for the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>. It\u2019s safe to say they\u2019re not where they expected to be coming off a 12-4 record. Instead of having another fast start, they find themselves at 3-5. While such slow starts aren\u2019t unusual for the Chargers \u2013 even in their better years \u2013 fans still have to be nervous. Let\u2019s take a look and see how they got to this point, and at some of the bigger headlines for the team this year.<\/p>\n

2019 Los Angeles Chargers Midseason Report<\/h2>\n

Injuries, Injuries Everywhere<\/h3>\n

Aside from Hunter Henry<\/a><\/strong> and Joey Bosa<\/strong><\/a>, the Chargers didn\u2019t have a ton of major injuries in 2018. It\u2019s been the opposite in 2019. The defense lost Derwin James<\/strong><\/a>, Adrian Phillips<\/a><\/strong>, and Nasir Adderley<\/strong><\/a>. Their safety corps are so depleted that they\u2019re playing a rookie cornerback named Roderic Teamer<\/a><\/strong> at strong safety, which is going about as well as you\u2019d expect.<\/p>\n

The offensive line has also seen a heavy dose of injuries. Russell Okung<\/a> <\/strong>just returned after missing several games due to a non-football health issue. Meanwhile, Mike Pouncey<\/a><\/strong> and Forrest Lamp<\/a> <\/strong>have both ended up on injured reserve. While having Okung back will be good, the absences of both Okung and Pouncey could be felt when neither of them were in the lineup.<\/p>\n

The Rise of Austin Ekeler<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Most of us already knew about Austin Ekeler as the resident James White<\/a> <\/strong>\/ Darren Sproles<\/a><\/strong> type player. But in the wake of Melvin Gordon<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s holdout (more on him later), he\u2019s broken out impressively. Through eight games, Ekeler has 750+ scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns. While he\u2019s been far less involved in the running game since Gordon\u2019s holdout ended, he\u2019s still been a big part of the receiving game. He\u2019s actually on pace for 102 catches and over 1,000 receiving yards.<\/p>\n

While he may not be as good of a pure runner as some of the other runners on the roster, he\u2019s got sure hands and he\u2019s pretty good after the catch. In terms of his game impact, he was a critical factor in the Week 1 win over the Indianapolis Colts<\/a>. He also pulled in a beautiful 41-yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers<\/a><\/strong> against the Tennessee Titans<\/a> in Week 7.<\/p>\n

More Kicker Troubles<\/h3>\n

Even though the Chargers finally seemed to find a good kicker in Michael Badgley<\/strong><\/a> last year, they were forced to go without him these past eight games due to injury. At first, they tried letting the punter Ty Long<\/a> <\/strong>do kicks. While most of the results were fine, he missed two kicks in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions<\/a>, which ended up being a key part of that loss. Then they brought in Chase McLaughlin<\/strong><\/a>, who didn’t cost them any games but still missed a few kicks. The cost of Badgley\u2019s injury hasn\u2019t been as bad as the 2017 season, but they still did lose one game in part because of it.<\/p>\n

Rivers Still Holding Things Together<\/h3>\n

Philip Rivers isn\u2019t having his best season thus far with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, but this team would still be nowhere without him. He was also a big part of the Week 1 Colts win and put them in a position to win the Week 7 Titans game. And though he threw a game-ending interception against the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, he still was critical to even giving them a chance in that game.<\/p>\n

His only true stinker of a stat line came against the Denver Broncos<\/a> in Week 5. Some of the other games have just been okay, but the point is that the Chargers wouldn\u2019t even have been in those games if not for Rivers. There\u2019s been some suggestion that the end of his career is imminent like his fellow 2004 draftee Eli Manning<\/strong>,<\/a> but it feels rather doubtful that it would be happening that soon.<\/p>\n

Melvin Gordon\u2026 No Longer Good?<\/h3>\n

Probably the biggest story of the entire year for the Chargers is Melvin Gordon. First, he started a holdout for more money, which lasted through Week 3. Then once he finally returned, he was extremely ineffective. His only strong running play so far this year was a 16-yard touchdown against the Chicago Bears<\/a> in Week 8. He\u2019s averaged 2.5 yards a carry through four games. And most infamously, he fumbled what would\u2019ve been the game-winning touchdown against the Titans in Week 7.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bizarre downturn for a running back that\u2019s never been elite, but has mostly been pretty good and appeared to be on the upswing after averaging 5.1 yards a carry in 2018. He always had a good nose for the end zone too. But this year, he\u2019s been almost completely useless. When he came back, it became apparent that he was probably not going to come back in free agency. At this point, the Chargers may not mind that either.<\/p>\n

Coaching Staff Change<\/h3>\n

Just in the past week, the Chargers fired their offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt<\/a><\/strong> and promoted quarterbacks coach Shane Steichen<\/strong>. Head coach Anthony Lynn<\/a><\/strong> said that he felt a change was needed<\/a>. It\u2019s hard to know what to expect out of this change, but one certainly has to be hopeful that the running game sees some improvement as a result. Or that the offense just scores more points in general, since they haven\u2019t done that as much as last year either. They\u2019ve only crossed 30 points twice this year, and they needed overtime for one of those occasions.<\/p>\n

Last Word<\/h3>\n

The Chargers still are alive in the race, of course. But they\u2019ve got a long road there and that starts with a tough matchup against the Green Bay Packers<\/a> \u2013 followed by a short rest before playing the division rivals the Oakland Raiders<\/a>. Getting a couple of good players like Derwin James off IR when they\u2019re eligible ought to help, but they just have to hope that it won\u2019t be too little too late at that point. Either way, it looks like this will be another season that will have Chargers fan down to their last nerve.<\/p>\n

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