Now that we have a top-5 HC, I feel less pain talking about the past few coaches.

Personally for me its Lynn, Staley, then McCoy - couldn't stand how conservative McCoy was, Staley's games were at least fun to watch as a spectator despite the predictable heartbreak. Lynn had a great 2018 season that gave one of our favorite Chargers memory (chiefs win in primetime) since the LT days.

Would love to hear what yall think

I've never understood the sentiment that we expected a rebuild. We were 5-6 last year before Herb went out during that Denver game, with the worst HC in the league. We also lost a ton of one-score games (Lions, cowboys, packers, dolphins, titans) where we could've legit been 8-3 under Staley. The delta between Staley and Harbaugh is surely at least a 5-game swing given how competitive we were in those games. We were not as bad as our record showed and we all recognized Staley's incompetence.

Pair that with an easy schedule due to being last in the division and 11-6 seemed to be a fair expectation.

I get our offense got considerably worse personnel-wise so I could understand concern on that front, but we all knew our defense had to take a step up with the discrepancy between perceived talent and performance on the field. Granted, no one could have predicted the #1 scoring defense and that has been a legitimate and pleasant surprise.

Obviously 12-5 or even 13-4 and a couple of playoff wins would be massively overachieving anyone's expectation, but I always believed (and I feel like a lot of us did) that we were going to be in the hunt at the very least come December.

What am I missing here? Would love to hear yalls thoughts!

Ive seen two major complaints about the offence over the course of the season and why it looks rough at certain points. The first is that the personnel is not good enough. We don't have enough weapons. The second is that the scheme is not getting anyone open. The play calling is poor.

I would love to hear others thoughts on it but for myself I think it is a bit of both. The personnel is clearly not up to standard. We lack weapons severely. On the other hand when the offence is struggling I do not remember too many times us dialling up easy plays to get us in rhythm and we become very one dimensional.

Like I always do on Monday and Tuesday, I’ve been doing a ton of what-if stuff in the playoff simulators. The motivation behind this was seeing those graphics showing us at like a 94%+ chance to make the playoffs. I didn’t believe it, so I wanted to see realistic-ish scenarios on both extremes of classic “chargering” and let’s say our newly minted “harbaughing” (winning scrappy close games)

Doom Scenario: Missing the playoffs at 10-7

• Finish 10-7 losing the next 3 to @Chiefs, Buccs, and Broncos but winning against @Patriots and @Raiders

• Teams that jump us would be Colts/Texans and Broncos

• Colts win out (BYE, @Broncos, Titans, @Giants, Jaguars)

• Denver finishes 10-7 and beats us and @Bengals but loses to Colts and Chiefs.

Scary but more than possible and a reminder for us not to get complacent. If the Colts lose at all though this is moot. Winning 1 out of our next 3 is so important!

Boom Scenario: Winning the AFC West

• Starts with us winning in Arrowhead this week, which any person in here should know is possible with 10 at QB and our Minter-led D

• Chiefs must lose 3/4 to finish the season (@Browns, Texans, @Steelers, @Broncos)

• Chargers must win 3/4 to finish the season (Buccs, Broncos, @Patriots, @Raiders)

Will this happen? No. Can it happen? Definitely. Especially if Jameo and the Browns could pull off the upset.

Of course after that there are the thousands of possibilities and I would guess in 90%+ of those we end up playing @Steelers, @Ravens, or @Texans in the Wildcard.

Finally, the 2 teams that passed on our sweet prince (Bengals and Dolphins) CAN make the playoffs, but even if both of them win-out, they cannot kick us out of the playoffs if we go 10-7.

TLDR: if we get to 10-7 and the Colts lose 1 game, I don’t think it possible for us to miss the playoffs. If we beat the Chiefs this week, there’s still a realistic chance at the AFC West. The Colts and Broncos are our biggest threats and the Dolphins/Bengals are not.

jesse minter doesn’t know it, but he’s saved us from a whole season of mental pain. i no longer live life as a chargers fan running purely on hopium with the way he’s got our defense playing this season. and then jim harbaugh—no need to say more.

T

Hey! This weekend me and fiancé will be attending our first NFL game. We just moved to KC and one of the first things I did was buy tickets for SNF. I was going to see if anyone here is also going and planning to tailgate before the game. We have a parking pass but don’t have much in terms of tailgating essentials. Wanted to see if someone wouldn’t mind adding two to their party. We can bring beers and food. Thanks! Bolt up!⚡️⚡️

Are Chargers jerseys not featuring the name CHARGERS anymore? NFL noob right here, pardon my ignorance.

So I recently became a chargers fan last season when they lost to the raiders 63-21 (love the underdogs) and I am really getting into football as a whole. I know most of the players on the team and my favorite players are dobbins, derwin james, and of course herbo. So I really wanted to buy a Herbert jersey and I loved the way the Fanatics looked but it seemed to expensive for me. So I am wondering if there are any places that sell real jerseys for cheap prices.

Mikey loves his Chargers and wants you to Bolt Up ⚡ and have a Merry Christmas 🎄

I'm looking for the best price.

https://preview.redd.it/edlj8qpb0h4e1.png?width=1112&format=png&auto=webp&s=d79a2c496a64074454a6a36297f53e65c6dfcfc2

NFLShop - can get 2% Cashback from popular sites

Herbert $64.99 in cart
https://www.nflshop.com/los-angeles-chargers/mens-los-angeles-chargers-justin-herbert-nike-powder-blue-team-legend-player-performance-top/t-32335272+p-926524713738+z-8-2249175124

Derwin James $62.69
https://www.nflshop.com/los-angeles-chargers/mens-los-angeles-chargers-derwin-james-nike-powder-blue-team-legend-player-performance-top/t-32000705+p-7051536574405+z-9-2907625734

Seems no additional season ticket discount today. Any third party stores that have a better deal combined with better cash back?

I was thinking about how well he’s protecting the ball and avoiding turnovers and I realized it really boils down to how well the defense is playing; something Herbert has never experienced in his career. The Atlanta game was a perfect example of what I’m talking about.

Our WRs (outside of Ladd) couldn’t get open, leading to Herb holding the ball too long and getting sacked 5 times by one of the worst D-lines in the league. But it appears that he held the ball knowing that he doesn’t HAVE to force a throw and keep the drive alive. He can take the sack, punt the ball, and have faith that the defense will do their thing and get the ball back with minimal damage done.

In years past, Herb would play hero ball because he HAD to, with the porous defenses of the Staley era. That led to a much higher INT rate and overall higher INT numbers.

During the Staley era, Herb’s INT rates were 2.2, 1.4 and 1.5. This year so far, it’s 0.3. Good defense really does matter and affects the offense in many different ways. Having a good defense allows Herb to protect the ball and not force throws just to keep up.

Long live Jim Harbaugh and shout out to Jesse Minter for bringing out the full potential of this defense, and huge thanks to Joe Hortiz for drafting some absolute studs in 2024!