It appears Jim Harbaugh is second-guessing some of the decisions he made leading up to the Los Angeles Chargers’ 26-13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
According to Taylor Bisciotti of NFL Network, Harbaugh told reporters that “We made some preseason type of mistakes. Now I wish we played our starters more in the preseason to give them some game reps.”
With one game already finished in the season, the Chargers will have to live with the consequences of their actions as they will start the season with a loss and will now have to change their focus on a Week 2 matchup against their AFC West rival, the Las Vegas Raiders.
Harbaugh is in his third season as head coach of the Chargers, and getting off to a slow start is unfamiliar territory for him as he’s never opened a season with a loss as head coach in the NFL.
The Chargers started the 2024 season with a 2-0 start, and last season by winning their first three games, and finished with an 11-6 record.
When January arrived, the Chargers were set to take on the eventual AFC champions, the New England Patriots in the Wild Card round of the playoffs.
The Chargers’ offense was a dud in the wild card, scoring only 3 points in the game, and it would result in the team parting ways with their offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, and would go on to hire Mike McDaniel.
Los Angeles’ offense got off to a hot start in the game by scoring on their first possession of the game, but would then spend the rest of the game playing from behind, as they didn’t reach the endzone again until the middle of the third quarter.
Second-year running back Omarion Hampton was the team’s leading rusher, running the ball 12 times for 43 yards and scoring 1 touchdown, with the longest run of the game going for only 14 yards.
Quarterback Justin Herbert completed 17 of 27 passes for 187 yards, 1 touchdown while taking three sacks and throwing an interception in the fourth quarter.
Despite taking three sacks, the Chargers’ offensive line didn’t do its job to buy Herbert enough time behind the pocket, as they looked confused during the game, and he was sacked in crucial situations — Including late in the fourth quarter when Arizona was sending an all-out blitz, only for three of their offensive linemen to pick up one defender.
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