I've racked my brain, and I've come to an important, albeit extremely early, conclusion.
The Los Angeles Chargers are off to what might be the worst possible start to their 2026 season
. After a summer of optimism marked by Mike McDaniel's arrival as offensive coordinator, the assumption was that Justin Herbert would look a lot better with one of the league's finest offensive minds and that Jim Harbaugh's team wouldn't, you know, look so rudderless.That has not happened. Not even close, actually. The hopeful contender Chargers are 0-2 after taking two convincing losses on the chin from the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders, two squads smack dab in the middle of respective rebuilds. Herbert is struggling to run McDaniel's offense, and the Chargers have
been alarmingly outmuscled at the point of attack in two straight weeks.
There's plenty of time for the Chargers to turn this around. Those who have followed the NFL for years understand how foolish it can be to judge a team based on a two-week sample size, let alone one in mid-September, when many teams are often still in pseudo-preseason mode following a long offseason. Herbert should get more comfortable, and the defense should be better over time.
But man, I can't lie. The Chargers' upcoming schedule makes me skeptical about their chances of saving their season. It is a gauntlet in every sense of the word. At a certain point, it feels like it will never let up:
- At Buffalo Bills
- At Seattle Seahawks
- Vs. Denver Broncos
- At Kansas City Chiefs
- At Los Angeles Rams
- Vs. Houston Texans
- At Baltimore Ravens
For those counting at home, that's a road date with the reigning Super Bowl champion Seahawks. That's three defenses that could credibly finish with top-five units (the Seahawks, Broncos, and Texans). That's four MVP-caliber quarterbacks in Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Matthew Stafford. That's five road games in some of the NFL's most challenging places to play. That's seven possible Super Bowl contenders (assuming the Rams and Texans get it together) on paper. Phew.
I'm going to give the Chargers the benefit of the doubt and assume they won't be nearly as bad moving forward as they were in their first two weeks. They're not going to go winless. They will find a way to score more points than the other team by the time the clock reads all zeroes ... eventually. However, if there were ever a 2-7 or 3-6 schedule on tap, well, it looks like the one above. Just like it.
Until this version of the Chargers shows it can be trusted, I think that's a reasonable estimation of how they'll fare on the field until late November. Given the Chargers' extended rap sheet of being untrustworthy, I wouldn't hold my breath.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Whatever’s wrong with the Chargers, their schedule says it’s gonna get a lot worse
