INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Keenan Allen stood near midfield, his hands raised toward the sky as he stared at the sideline. The Los Angeles Chargers only had 10 players in their offensive huddle. It was fourth down, late in the third quarter of an eventual 27-10 loss to the Washington Commanders, and the play clock was winding down.
Soon, Allen’s teammates followed suit. Ladd McConkey looked to the sideline and raised his hands in the air, too — the international sign for, “What the hell are we doing?” Rookie running back Omarion Hampton started waving his hand toward the sideline. Coach Jim Harbaugh stared back as the clock ticked — 19 seconds, 18, 17, 16, 15. He looked from side to side. Finally, tight end Tyler Conklin, the 11th man the offense needed, sprinted onto the field.
By the time Conklin got to the huddle, there were 11 seconds on the play clock, and quarterback Justin Herbert was already midway through his play call. The Chargers broke the huddle with nine seconds on the play clock. They rushed to the line. Herbert got the snap off with four seconds to spare.
Herbert rolled to his right off play action. The Chargers needed 2 yards for a first down. Herbert threw a fastball to Conklin on a stop route. It went through Conklin’s hands, hit him in the helmet and fell to the turf for an incompletion and a crucial turnover on downs.
The play was a microcosm of the Chargers’ performance Sunday. Blunder after blunder, mistake after mistake, penalty after penalty. The Chargers were disjointed and dysfunctional.
A Harbaugh-coached team is not supposed to look like this.
“Sloppy errors,” as linebacker Daiyan Henley put it.
“We didn’t play clean football,” safety Derwin James Jr. said.
The slop has now sustained through two weeks.
The Chargers have lost two straight games, tumbling back to reality after their 3-0 start to the season. The through-line in the losing streak has been undisciplined play in all three phases. Harbaugh is supposed to raise a team’s floor. He is supposed to bring a prepared, buttoned-up product to the field each week. That is why the Chargers pursued him in 2024. For the most part, the Chargers have gotten what was promised from Harbaugh. But these past two games have been a stark deviation from that clean brand of football.
The Chargers committed 14 penalties last week in an inexcusable loss to the New York Giants and rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart. They committed 10 penalties against the Commanders, and so many of them were backbreakers. Before that Week 4 loss to the Giants, the Chargers had never committed double-digit penalties in a game under Harbaugh.
On Sunday, the Chargers had a punt return touchdown from Ladd McConkey called back because rookie linebacker Marlowe Wax ran into punter Tress Way and was flagged for roughing the kicker. They had two explosive plays called back on back-to-back snaps in the third quarter. On a second-and-19, Herbert completed a pass to receiver Quentin Johnston over the middle for a conversion. Right tackle Trey Pipkins III was called for holding. On the ensuing second-and-28, Herbert completed a pass to Allen for 31 yards. Pipkins had lined up incorrectly and was called for an illegal formation.
“We need to get the bleeding stopped on the penalties, the self-inflicted wounds, and I know we’re capable of doing that,” Harbaugh said. “I know we’re a good football team in those areas, and we’re not good at it right now.”
The Chargers were called for 12 men on the field on defense. On the opening drive of the game, the Chargers were flagged for a false start when Johnston and receiver Tre’ Harris botched a pre-snap motion.
“We’re not doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing,” Harbaugh said.
The sloppy play extended beyond the penalties. The Chargers repeatedly struggled to get lined up correctly on offense. On that same opening drive, the Chargers set up in the wrong formation, and Herbert was forced to call a timeout. Later in the first quarter, Herbert tried to kill a play at the line of scrimmage, and there was confusion as to where players were supposed to line up in the adjusted formation. Harbaugh called a timeout from the sideline.
“The game is tough enough already,” Herbert said, “and we’re making it tougher on ourselves when we do that.”
Then came the calamitous pre-snap operation on that fourth down.
“Called for the personnel group, and I don’t know if he didn’t hear it,” Harbaugh said of Conklin. “I don’t know why he didn’t go out there.”
The Chargers committed two turnovers inside Commanders territory. Johnston fumbled in the second quarter at the Washington 23-yard line. The Chargers led 10-0 at that point. After that lost fumble, the Commanders scored 27 straight points.
“I feel like that game was there for us to take,” said McConkey, who scored the Chargers’ lone touchdown in the first quarter.
Herbert threw his fourth interception of the season, which came at the Washington goal line. He has now been intercepted on batted passes in back-to-back games.
“It’s just bad luck,” Herbert said of the batted passes.
Justin Herbert showed off his frustration after throwing a tipped-ball interception in the fourth quarter. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
Harbaugh said the sloppy operation is “outside of the team’s character.” Herbert agreed that the performance over the past two weeks is “out of character.”
But the truth is we are still learning about the identity of this team. You could write off the Giants game as a one-off, a blip. Two weeks in a row?
“Definitely don’t want to have three in a row,” Harbaugh said.
The Chargers now have to prove that this is not who they are. Harbaugh often says that what a person does speaks so loudly that no one can hear what that person is saying. Harbaugh is saying the Chargers can be a disciplined, tight operation. What they are doing is something very different.
And that includes how the Chargers are playing in the trenches. Harbaugh wants to be a physical team. The Chargers are not that right now. They are very injured along the offensive line, and they cannot protect. Herbert was hit nine more times Sunday and has now been hit 35 times in the past three games. Rashawn Slater is out for the season. Joe Alt is out with a high ankle sprain. Mekhi Becton was limited to 38 snaps with a hand injury, and he has only played one full game in five weeks this season. Pipkins was limited to 27 snaps. Harbaugh wants the offensive line to be the tip of the spear. That tip is dull and ineffective.
Harbaugh wants to create a run wall on defense. The Chargers are a flimsy fence in that phase. While they were able to limit Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels in the scramble game, running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries. The Chargers had a defensive rushing success of 37.5 percent — the worst single-game rate for any defense in 154 games this season, according to TruMedia. They lost interior defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand (groin) in the first half, and that impacted the run defense.
“We’re a good football team,” Harbaugh said. “We’re not good enough in some of the areas that you need to win games.”
A team’s identity is not forged in the successful times. It solidifies in the hardship. And that is where the Chargers find themselves now.
They have suffered two ugly losses. They are beaten down with injuries, including Hampton, who left the locker room Sunday in a walking boot.
The product has not been good enough. It is up to Harbaugh to tighten the screws.
“We know what type of a team we are,” McConkey said. “We’re too good of a team to beat ourselves.”
(Top photo: Luke Hales / Getty Images)