The Los Angeles Chargers, unfortunately, brought home the result they weren’t supposed to: a fifth straight loss. This time, it’s got to have fans demanding a change in staff. CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco is already pointing a finger at head coach Jim Harbaugh for the embarrassing loss.
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“The reason they won the football game is because Jim Harbaugh was an idiot, okay? I’ll say it,” Pete Prisco said on CBS Sports HQ. “Jim Harbaugh knows 50,000 times more about football than I do. 50,000 times. He’s won national championships in college. He played in the Super Bowl. But what in the hell are you doing? The Broncos hadn’t done a damn thing on offense.
“Nothing. Nothing. You punt the ball away. Fourth and one. Fourth quarter. You win 17-10. The Broncos are skating. They’re wondering if their quarterback is doing anything. And they gave them the ball in point-blank range. From that point on, as Ross said, the game was over. The Chargers had no chance.”
Harbaugh made a risky decision when he chose to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Chargers’ own 41-yard line instead of punting the ball. Los Angeles needed just one yard to keep possession, but Justin Herbert failed to get the first down. The Broncos were in a good position to take over.
Quarterback Bo Nix completed a 13-yard pass to Courtland Sutton for a first down. A few plays later, Nix threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Sutton, tying the game at 17-17 with less than nine minutes remaining.
“If you want to blame somebody for the loss, it wasn’t the bad offense. It wasn’t the injuries. It wasn’t that. It was Jim Harbaugh,” Prisco continued. “He’s the reason they lost the football game.”
After the game, Harbaugh admitted his mistake, but it was too late to change the outcome.
“It was a wrong decision,” Harbaugh said. “Can’t think of a time I’ve ever been more mad at myself. This team worked so hard, played so valiantly. I got to take 100% accountability for making that decision and turning the momentum of the game. It was the wrong one, and I got to be right about that.
What hurts the most is that the Broncos kept the Chargers scoreless in the fourth quarter despite Los Angeles holding a 17-10 lead entering it.
Their offense finished with 237 total yards, including 155 rushing yards on 34 attempts at 4.6 yards per carry. The team recorded 14 first downs and converted five of its 14 third-down attempts.
Despite the gains on the ground, there were offensive struggles. Justin Herbert was sacked five times, the most he has ever been in a game so far this season. Three second-half turnovers and a 0-for-2 record on fourth-down attempts (one of them being the above play) also hurt their chances of securing a win.
Throughout the season so far, offensive coordinator Mike McDaniels has come under fire for his handling of the offense. This unit looks nothing like the offense it was only last year. However, Jim Harbaugh had surprisingly backed McDaniels, saying his job was not in jeopardy.
Whether that stance is still the same after the loss to Denver remains to be seen. For now, Jim Harbaugh is beating himself up for that costly decision.
“Right now the only thing I can think of is that I screwed that up,” Harbaugh added. “That’s really the only thing going through my mind. Because I mean the playmaking, the stops, you know, the momentum was in our favor and, yeah, wrong decision. … When they don’t work … that’s my accountability.”
Now, it will be interesting to see how the team performs in future games, as their Super Bowl chances are right now in major trouble.