{"id":482476,"date":"2026-10-02T06:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/482476\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T06:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T06:34:08","slug":"chargers-mike-mcdaniel-accepts-blame-for-poor-offense-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/482476\/","title":{"rendered":"Chargers\u2019 Mike McDaniel accepts blame for poor offense \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

EL SEGUNDO \u2014 Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel actually played the blame game Thursday.<\/p>\n

As in, he blamed himself for the Chargers\u2019 sputtering, inconsistent offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cResponsibility, yeah, I\u2019m fully responsible,\u201d McDaniel said as part of a longer answer as to whether he feels accountable for the Chargers\u2019 0-3 record, quarterback Justin Herbert\u2019s struggles and the offense\u2019s general inability to meet preseason hopes or expectations<\/a>, whether internal or external.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho else is going to lead the direction of the offense?\u201d McDaniel asked.<\/p>\n

In fact, there has been plenty of blame to go around, as McDaniel explained during his regularly scheduled Thursday question-and-answer session. After all, he\u2019s not to blame for a series of avoidable penalties that sidetracked a promising possession to start the second half against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.<\/p>\n

The players who were penalized were to blame.<\/p>\n

McDaniel wasn\u2019t penalized for an illegal block in the back. Or a holding penalty. Or two false starts inside the 10-yard line. Instead of scoring a touchdown after they had a first-and-goal from the 3-yard line and then a second-and-goal from the 1, the Chargers were forced to kick a field goal.<\/p>\n

It also wasn\u2019t McDaniel\u2019s fault that Herbert threw an ill-advised pass intended for wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling on a third-and-5 play from the Bills\u2019 23-yard line with the Chargers leading 13-10 in the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, after linebacker Daiyan Henley recovered a fumble at Buffalo\u2019s 34.<\/p>\n

It was the last of the Chargers\u2019 five takeaways against the Bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And so it went during a 24-16 loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All that is in the past, according to McDaniel, but it\u2019s also a prologue for what comes next, which is a date with the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks on Sunday in Seattle. It\u2019s simply not possible to forget where the Chargers are in the standings and what has sent them spiraling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s the first time in my career, I think, that I can recall, to be plus-four (in turnovers) and lose,\u201d McDaniel said. \u201cHow do I think we played? In my mind, it\u2019s pretty clear. You want to be the reason to win, but we (the offense, including the players and coaches,) were the reason we lost the football game. You\u2019ve got to pull your weight in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chargers\u2019 latest defeat continued a troubling pattern. They failed to score more than two touchdowns for the third consecutive game. Herbert threw a 1-yard scoring pass to running back Keaton Mitchell and Cameron Dicker kicked three field goals to account for their scoring.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, Dicker\u2019s 33-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining on Sunday represented the Chargers\u2019 first points in a fourth quarter this season. They were outscored 14-3 by the Bills in the fourth quarter, by 9-0 by the Las Vegas Raiders in the fourth in Week 2 and by 10-0 by the Arizona Cardinals in the fourth in the season opener.<\/p>\n

The Chargers\u2019 oft-repeated mantra is, \u201cYou need to be your best when your best is needed.\u201d But that\u2019s been a bust so far during McDaniel\u2019s marriage with Herbert, who has been quick to blame himself for the offense\u2019s overall lack of production during the three losses.<\/p>\n

Herbert said Wednesday he blamed himself for the false starts near the goal line in Buffalo, chalking it up to his own cadence, saying, \u201cIt\u2019s just my fault.\u201d He also accepted responsibility for trying to squeeze the pass between two defenders to get it to Valdes-Scantling near the goal line.<\/p>\n

Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson intercepted it and returned it to the Bills\u2019 42.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just haven\u2019t played well and need to play better,\u201d said Herbert, who has completed 59.1% of his passes (well below his seven-season career completion percentage of 63.6%) for 627 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions this season.<\/p>\n

Asked for his opinion of Herbert\u2019s play, McDaniel said, \u201cThere\u2019s good and bad. When you\u2019re 0-3, it\u2019s going to be hard to get a direct answer about how somebody\u2019s played because I\u2019m not going to absolve anybody from responsibility nor am I going to blame anybody. Collectively, we haven\u2019t been good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EL SEGUNDO \u2014 Offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel actually played the blame game Thursday. As in, he blamed himself…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":482477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1333,752,74,76,75,127],"class_list":["post-482476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-nfl","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}