The Chargers started hot against the Commanders on Sunday to take a 10-0 lead in the first quarter. The thing is, every ounce of that positive momentum evaporated and never came back following a fumble by Quentin Johnston halfway through the second quarter.
Every minute after that turnover seemed to stretch on forever as the Chargers racked up 10 more penalties (14 against the Giants a week prior) and turned the ball over one more time via a deflected pass at the goal line.
Mistake followed mistake.
It only got uglier and uglier as the clock ticked on. As I sat with my coffee this morning recounting this game in my head, I truly could not make a great case for any bonafide winner, but there sure were a lot of losers who would qualify for this piece. Too many, if we’re being honest.
Let’s go ahead and dive in!
Or don’t. I wouldn’t blame you either way if we’re being honest.
Winners
WR Ladd McConkey
McConkey caught his first touchdown of the season by snagging a fastball from Justin Herbert in the first quarter. He also took back a punt for an amazing and electric return touchdown but that was wiped out by a penalty committed by a player you’ll read about here shortly.
Overall it was a fine day for McConkey who ended the day with five receptions for just 39 yards. He made his usual plays to help extend drives and gain yards after the catch.
If there was one thing about this game that went well, it was that the receivers caught their passes and did their job (I’ll die on the hill that Johnston’s fumble was a head-to-head that did not get called!).
Losers
Team Discipline
The Chargers racked up 10 penalties against the Commanders. In their loss to the Giants in Week Four, they had 14 penalties which was the most under Jim Harbaugh since he was hired as head coach. Up until Week Four, the Chargers had 8 or more penalties just once since Harbaugh took over. That’s a horrendous sign of preparation and at some point you can’t keep blaming injuries and new faces in the building. All of these guys – from the ones who have been in the locker room to the freshest guys off the street — they’re all professional football players. They know better, and it doesn’t help that offensive tackle Trey Pipkins (the most senior of the offensive linemen on the team) is the worst offender.
The Chargers are already short-handed in crucial areas of the roster. They cannot further reduce their chances of being competitive each week by shooting themselves in the foot over and over again.
Change needs to happen and it needs to happen now.
LB Marlowe Wax
You can’t do much worse than being an undrafted rookie who wiped an amazing punt return because you ran into the punter who was standing with his feet near the back end zone line.
Wax was the author of one of the most frustrating and momentum-sucking plays of the day and didn’t help that it drastically altered the team’s 2025 season highlight reel.
He’s young and he’ll grow from this, but one also has to wonder if special teams coach Ryan Ficken told his players to be safe and not risk the penalty or if he urged them to go for the block.
OT Trey Pipkins
Pipkins unfortunately played one of the biggest parts of a bigger disaster by the Chargers and that of course was their protection of Herbert. Of the 10 total penalties I mentioned above, Pipkins was called for two of them on consecutive plays. He also allowed a sack and was the team’s lowest-graded player of the whole day with a 28.6 mark from Pro Football Focus.
That’s horrendously bad!
