A ton went wrong for the Chargers in Week 1, especially for Chris O'Leary's defense in his NFL play-calling debut.
O'Leary's defense was by far the worst of the three facets for the team, allowing the Cardinals' offense to gain nearly 400 total yards. That side of the ball was neither efficient nor effective, resulting in what we saw in Sunday's debacle.
His defensive coordinator debut was far from ideal, and no one was happy with the performance, including head coach Jim Harbaugh.
Harbaugh was blunt when speaking about the defense and O'Leary's debut, saying he expects them to bounce back.
"He's got a couple he wishes he would have back," Harbaugh said. "He's going to be coaching up the positive and attacking the places we can improve, exactly
the same."
In addition to the near 400 yards the Chargers defense allowed, they also allowed 23 first downs to Arizona.
"The ball was coming out quick. Something to improve on," Harbaugh said. "A lot of good, I thought we did well in the run game stopping the run.
"Play action deep shots we took away well, some of their getting back in phase routes where the ball was coming out quick," Harbaugh added. "We weren't winning the battle enough in that phase. Some good solid things to build on and other things we'll attack to improve, especially some of the precision of the timing."
O'Leary's unit failed to pressure Jacoby Brissett, finishing with just one sack in the 60-minute contest. The Chargers also had just one tackle for loss.
Last season, the Cardinals had 21 total turnovers, but the Chargers couldn't force any turnovers on Sunday afternoon.
Instead, Los Angeles allowed five consecutive drives to end in a score or a field goal attempt before finally forcing a punt late in the third quarter.
It was a rough debut for O'Leary; however, he and the defense will look to bounce back in a big way in their Week 2 matchup against the Raiders.
This article originally appeared on Chargers Wire: Chargers' Chris O'Leary has rough debut as defensive coordinator
