(Image credit: Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184/
Well, it is official the Los Angeles Chargers are now mathematically eliminated. This is a complete disappointment as the Los Angeles Chargers are a team many had projected as a playoff team and looked like they would have won the division at one point as well. The Chargers once again continued to blow it and made multiple mistakes this season. There were three main issues that resulted in the Chargers not making the NFL Playoffs.
1. Losing to the Houston Texans (Covid-19 Outbreak)
Week 18 was a complete debacle where they had to win and failed to do so. You know how the Los Angeles Chargers could have avoided the Week 18 Debacle. If they did not play down to competition against the Houston Texans of all teams. Especially as the Chargers were healthy excluding the Covid-19 outbreak that took out players like RB Austin Ekeler, OL Corey Linsley, and DE/EDGE Joey Bosa. Yes, the Outbreak did have a big effect on them but the Houston Texans were garbage this season. Plus the Chargers had plenty of time to prepare for this matchup as they faced the Chiefs on Thursday Night the previous week. That game was completely unacceptable and is one of the reasons why the Los Angeles Chargers did not make the playoffs this season.
2. No Home Field Advantage
Yes, this is a repeating issue with the Chargers but it is clear that the Chargers in Los Angeles have been a Relocated Disaster. That relocated disaster has resulted in the Chargers playing 17 away games. Heck, look at the fans in attendance at Sofi Stadium during chargers games. There are more opposing fans in attendance than there were Los Angeles Charger fans. The Chargers just don’t have a market in Los Angeles as they did in San Diego. The Chargers I doubt will ever return to San Diego ever after the stunt they pulled made fans no longer want to support the team as a result. Go back and watch the Chargers last game in San Diego. There was almost 90% of fans that were in attendance that were wearing Kansas City Chiefs jerseys. It was crazy it was like the Chargers were playing in Kansas City. This relocation has as a result hurt the on-field product as well as they don’t have the support of the fanbase and I even hear fans cheering more when the opposing team scores. That is not a good sign and it will follow this team for years to come. Imagine if the Chargers stayed in Los Angeles and actually had Home Field Advantage.
3. Their run defense is awful
The Chargers have a ton of Tools on offense as they have the franchise QB in Justin Herbert, good tools surrounding Herbert, and an excellent offensive line. It was clear that the Chargers offense was a lot better than the defense is. This defense was up and down this season but was a complete down was the run defense. In fact, I did a little research and found out that the Los Angeles Chargers had given up 100 yards on the ground in 12 of 17 games. That is an insane amount of times to give that up. One player who was abysmal this season and was a liability as a run stopper was LB Kenneth Murray. Murray was awful this season and missed a ton of key tackles when stopping the run. It does not help that he can’t stay healthy and even when healthy Murray is a disaster. Kenneth Murray has been an absolute disaster since the Chargers decided to trade up for him and has not developed well at all. I also want to add that isn’t Brandon Staley a defensive-minded coach?. From what I saw from this run defense I would have not believed that Staley was. The Los Angeles Chargers need to restructure and rebuild the run defense for next season or else the Chargers will once again miss the playoffs again.