I’ve never believed in curses or hexes.
Now, I’m wondering if there’s an exception.
Could there be bad juju involving major sports franchises that moved from San Diego to Los Angeles by a man with the initials D.S.?
The Los Angeles Clippers stumbled for decades after Donald Sterling took the NBA club out of San Diego.
But those LAC clubs never underperformed like the winless Los Angeles Chargers have through five games of their 10th NFL season since Dean Spanos moved the club out of San Diego.
Just six weeks ago, the football world regarded L.A. as an above-average team — one that got sixth-best odds on betting lines to win the Super Bowl and was coming off its second 11-6 season in a row.
Los Angeles sits 0-5 — and deservedly so — following Sunday’s error-ridden 23-17 loss to the Denver Broncos in the Kroenke Dome.
Truly, it has been a staggering spectacle.
Coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Justin Herbert, rather than lifting their respective games in their third year together, have fallen off performance cliffs.
The five games have revealed L.A. as the NFL’s sloppiest team, and its best unit — the defense — is the one furthest removed from Harbaugh and Herbert.
L.A. stands last in the NFL (or near it) in turnovers, penalties and sacks allowed, And its combined total in those markers sits last by far.
Herbert was supposed to benefit from Harbaugh’s hire of creative coordinator Mike McDaniel in January.
Herbert, like Harbaugh, has been often unrecognizable this season in comparison to the high standard he set across several years.
He’s making too many errors, leading to crucial turnovers in the fourth quarter. Sunday brought a remarkable quick and odd interception that recalled the two passes to linebackers he threw in the previous week at Seattle.
Injuries have hit L.A. hard, especially the past two weeks. But the players’ durability was supposed to improve under Harbaugh.
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The Spanoses stopped cheaping out in the head-coach market and paid up for Harbaugh, who got a five-year, $75-million contract that made him one of the NFL’s highest-paid coaches. Harbaugh then hired his former strength coach at Michigan, Ben Herbert.
Harbaugh said Herbert was integral to the Wolverines winning their first undisputed national championship in 75 years.
Removing any other excuses, Harbaugh said the Spanos’ willingness to improve the fitness facilities would pay off on the field.
While L.A. did show more physicality and persistence in its first two seasons under Harbaugh, earning a pair of wild-card berths before the offense fizzled, this year’s team hasn’t met that standard. And several key players have fallen to injury.
Harbaugh bears some responsibility for the roster quality, too.
He has a big say in personnel, having brought former Baltimore Ravens scouting executive Joe Hortiz to L.A. as a first-time general manager.
The Harbaugh-Hortiz tandem has hindered Herbert by providing him insufficient blockers and pass-catchers.
McDaniel seems to have tumbled over a performance cliff, too.
Herbert fared much better in his first five games under coordinators Shane Steichen, Joe Lombardi, Kellen Moore and Greg Roman than he has under McDaniel.
Yet we must also try to square Herbert’s struggles with this comparison. In Tua Tagovailoa’s first five games under McDaniel, in 2022 with the Miami Dolphins, the lefty QB far outperformed Herbert as a passer.
The expectation for the McDaniel-coached Herbert was a well-timed passing game, the ball coming out fast, the pass-catchers piling up yardage after the catch.
The opposite has played out.
Herbert looks tentative and confused. The offense is stunningly bereft of cohesion, crispness, rhythm and flow.
While L.A.’s defense has made strides lately, and while it largely outplayed the Broncos on Sunday, the offense’s dysfunction has been too much to overcome. And if that doesn’t change in a big way, the team’s 10th season in the relocation will go down as a large bummer for the San Diegans who continue to support the lightning-bolt club.