What Needs to Happen for the Chargers After the Horrid Jags Game

The Chargers got obliterated by the Jaguars on Sunday. Not only was it a 38–10 loss, they lost All-Pro left tackle, Rashawn Slater, for the season. And to top it off, Joey Bosa suffered a nasty groin injury that should set him back for at least 2 weeks.(Edit- Joey Bosa has been placed on the IR, meaning he will miss at least 4 weeks.)

Things look bleak, but fortunately the Bolts have a decently easy schedule for the rest of the first half of the season. Of course, some things need to change before they can look at making a deep playoff push. Before discussing what needs to happen, let’s take a peek into the rest of the first half of the season.

Next week, the Chargers face the Texans who are, I’m not going to say an easy win — we all saw what we thought would be an easy win for the Chargers last year against the Texans — but they should be a team the Bolts can beat without being at full strength. Week 5, they travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns, who have looked solid but to the point we should write off the Chargers. Then, they come back home to take on the division rival Broncos, who are arguably the biggest threat in the rest of this first half stretch. They’re fresh off of a sloppy win against the 49ers, but you can never count out Russell Wilson.

Staying in LA for week 7, the Bolts take on the Seahawks. This would be a team where the healthy Chargers can easily dominate and not even break a sweat. However, a Chargers team that may not be fully healthy could struggle and fall into a trap game. After the bye week, the team heads to Atlanta to face the Falcons. I see no reason, other than a potentially banged up offense for the Bolts against a sneaky good Falcons secondary, that the Chargers should lose. Then, in week 9, the last game of the first half of the season, the Chargers head to San Francisco to take on the 49ers. This is when I expect the full team — minus Slater and Guyton, who are missing the full season — to be fully healthy and bring it to the 49ers. The Bolts can win the bulk of these game in a scrappy, battling way, but the changes have to come, too.

The Offensive Line

Losing an All-Pro left tackle — arguably the most important position on the offensive line — in Rashawn Slater hurts immensely. Once he was subbed in, Storm Norton caused the entire offensive line to get dragged down, and no one could follow their assignments — plus, there was holding calls everywhere. There’s a vast amount of options for the team to look into in order to solve the issue at left tackle. Many are calling to move Trey Pipkins, who’s been better than expected this season, to cover the left tackle spot, then switch Matt Feiler from his left guard spot to right tackle, and bring up rookie Jamaree Salyer into the left guard spot. Another favorable option is they can keep Pipkins at right tackle, and move Feiler to the left tackle spot.

However, I think the best decision would be to look into the free agency pool. Eric Fisher is 31, but is a great option to replace Slater. Daryl Williams is a year younger, but he may not be quite to the level of Fisher. I think, no matter what the team does, they need to at least call up their agents and discuss the idea of playing for the Chargers. (Edit- the Chargers have announced that Jamaree Salyer will be filling in the left tackle spot.)

The offensive line being hurt brings everyone down. More specifically, the run game looks awful, and the team isn’t able to protect the franchise quarterback Justin Herbert — who is still battling fractured rib cartilage that he suffered against the Chiefs in week 2. The Bolts had a top 5 offense last year, and it just doesn’t look the same when the line is hurt. Unless the front office is confident they can push through a few weeks until at least Corey Linsley returns from injury, the offensive line has to change, and fast.

Offensive Play-Calling

Many Chargers fans have been calling for the removal of Joe Lombardi since the end of last season. We understand that Herbert isn’t healthy, and neither is the line, but the QB’s strength has always been his ability to throw the ball deep. To see Lombardi not gameplan around his young, superstar QB almost makes it seem like he doesn’t trust him. Joe Lombardi had the 32nd most unique offense last season — meaning, he had the ABSOLUTE LEAST unique offense last season. It is one of the easiest offensive schemes in the NFL to read. He calls an absurd amount of screens, which, while not on full display this last Sunday, is something that fans are tired of seeing since his start last year. That and his random gadget, trick plays — like end-arounds on crucial downs — only for the play to be blown up help the opposing team to regain the necessary momentum and confidence to win the game. The Jaguars offense looked good — all credit to them and their abilities — but the Chargers offense gave them excellent field possession almost every time. If it’s not the firing of Joe Lombardi, there has to be at least a tweak in his gameplan to make it somewhat harder to predict.

Stay Healthy, Aggressive, and Scrappy

At the end of the day, the most important thing for the Bolts to do is stay scrappy and aggressive. I know those are almost the same, but when put in a big situation, the team should fight to win. Typically, Staley is very aggressive, but this year he appears to be a bit scared to take risks in big situations. If they do fight and play aggressively, there’s no reason they shouldn’t come out 2 or 3 games above .500 in the first half of the season. And, if the Bolts come out 6–4 before the Chiefs revenge game, then we have a good shot for a deep postseason run.

Don’t panic, Chargers fans. There’s still a lot of season left to play.

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