The Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Chargers looked like a fascinating game when the schedule was released in May. You have the reigning Super Bowl champions going against a Jim Harbaugh team led by quarterback Justin Herbert. Former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel was brought in to elevate Herbert and the offense to top-tier status, much in the way he transformed the Dolphins offense in his first couple of seasons with Tua Tagovailoa. The Chargers were a playoff team in each of the past
two seasons, albeit without any wins, and expectations were high to take that next step.
There will be no playoffs for the Chargers unless they turn things around drastically. An 0-3 start has seen the Chargers score just 46 points total, with the usual set of injuries impacting the Chargers roster. To preview Seahawks-Chargers, I asked Bolts From The Blue’s Michael Peterson to give us a better understanding of the Chargers’ disastrous start to the season, as well as players to watch on Sunday.
Let’s get to 5 Qs and 5 As!
1.) The Chargers offense was supposed to be a force under new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel. The offense is a disaster and they’ve yet to score more than 16 points. How much are you putting on McDaniel’s scheme, and do you think this roster is well equipped to run the offense McDaniel wants?
I think it’s difficult not to put the majority of the blame on McDaniel given that it’s his own system and he had the ability to pick and choose some of the players the Chargers added this offseason (Guard Cole Strange and running back Keaton Mitchell in free agency, wide receiver Brenen Thompson in the draft). He only further incurs more of the blame since the signing of Strange to be the unquestioned starter at right guard due to his experience (NOT success) in the system was seen as a horrendous decision well before now.
Other than that, I thought the likes of Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston would be great in this system as long as McDaniel used them both in roles that suited their skillsets best. McConkey worked out! Johnston, on the other hand, has not. I would, however, be remiss not to mention that tight ends are important in this offense and the Chargers have been without their tpop two guys for roughly a game and a half this year. They haven’t been healthy enough to truly get everyone on the same page and are now forced to do it with backups and players who otherwise shouldn’t ever be on the field.
Lastly with McDaniel, the buck stops with him in regards to his unit. If the whole dang offense looks like they’ve never played together, that’s an issue! What was being down for six months prior to the season? Justin Herbert looks nothing like the guy we all came to know. Why is the system making every good player look much worse? We have so many questions.
General manager Joe Hortiz also deserves some blame for a very questionable offseason where they had all the money in the world to build this team and he went with numerous bargain-bin deals instead.
2.) A lot of the scrutiny surrounding the Chargers is about the play of Justin Herbert. He’s been victimized by another poor offensive line, brutal drops by his receivers, and not much of a running game. But when I look at the Bills game, Herbert looked pretty fortunate to only throw one interception with some of his questionable decisions. How do you think Herbert has performed thus far, and how much of the offensive struggles can be attributed to him?
If I really had to put a number on how much of a role Herbert has played in the offense’s struggles, I’d put it around 30%. He still has made a number of plays that make you go “oh, that’s the good stuff I remember” but that’s contrasted to far too many questionable decisions, as well. The anticipation that McDaniel wants Herbert to throw with does NOT look like it jives with him. The film shows me over and over again that Herbert wants to fully see his guys open before throwing and that’s not what the system needs. That’s where the lack of trust between him and his receivers shows the brightest. He does NOT want to throw as early as he needs to and he’s leaving a lot of yards out there.”
One of the strangest habits of Herbert this year so far has got to be his complete evasion from throwing the checkdowns. I mean, it’s actually wild how many times they could have moved the chains for put themselves in favorable situations if he would have just made the easy, less-sexy throw. He has stayed so locked on to his guys down the field that third and fourth options don’t seem to register with him anymore. It’s concerning!
3.) The Chargers lost Jesse Minter to the Baltimore Ravens, and Minter was held in high regard for how the Chargers defense performed over his two seasons as defensive coordinator. Chris O’Leary is in charge of the defense and thus far the results have been middling. However, they did force five turnovers against the Bills, so there have been positive signs. What’s your assessment of the Chargers defense under O’Leary?
I believe Chris O’Leary will ultimately be fine with more time under his belt as a NFL coordinator. The first game or two showed us the lumps he needed to take, but the Bills game was seemingly him settling down and finding a groove against one of the best offenses in the NFL. He does it his own way with dialing up pressure but overall has stayed fairly close to what Minter did while he was in charge. They want to keep things in front of them and play a lot of zone. Make the opposing offense win over and over again to go the length of the field. Do not let them get easy yards and chunk plays.
This week will be another difficult task, but I have confidence the defense will hold their own this week once again.
4.) Who are some names to look out for on offense and defense who aren’t the superstars? In other words, some under-the-radar talents instead of Herbert, Ladd McConkey, Khalil Mack, and Derwin James.
On offense, second-year wideout Tre’ Harris has seemingly grabbed the WR2 job behind McConkey. He has shown sure hands and will block his tail off. When the Chargers have needed big plays the last two weeks, he’s been able to author them.
Defensively, Justin Eboigbe has been a standout guy. He had six sacks in 2025 and that was huge given that he barely made the roster as a rookie who suffered from being a ‘tweener at Alabama. He now has a knack for being around the football and will make several splash plays per game. He’s a very underrated player on the Chargers defense right now.
5.) Do you think the Chargers can possibly salvage their season and pull off the upset in Seattle? And if this season is a complete bust, what does the future hold for Jim Harbaugh and general manager Joe Hortiz?
I personally do not think the Chargers will win this week, nor any week prior to their Week Seven bye. I just can’t. That’s how bad and discombobulated this offense has looked and they are not the type of problems that simply get better overnight or in the span of several weeks. I think they may keep ot close this week thanks to the defense, but there’s no way the offense does enough this week against the league’s best defense.
As far as the future, a year where they finish under .500 should mean that major changes are made. It SHOULD. But I don’t think the Chargers will do that. Harbaugh has earned the benefit of the doubt. He will stay at least one more year if this season is a travesty. The guy who I believe deserves far more blame is Hortiz whom I mentioned earlier. His draft history now looks questionable and his offensive free-agent history looks downright dreadful. The lack of urgency to fix the offensive line has been egregious and the guys they chose to save money on were more than likely way worse than they themselves would have ever expected.
And to be completely fair, a lot of the best signings have been irrelevant due to injuries which is no one’s fault, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less frustrating because it just keeps happening year-in and year-out. They fixed the center position and Tyler Biadasz won’t play a down this year! They got two good tight ends and they lasted less than two games! Omarion Hampton was a first-rounder and he missed most of his rookie year.
It’s just been a lot this year already…
But other than that, the Chargers seem to be doing alright.
Thanks to Michael for answering my questions!
