INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Jim Harbaugh is never going to criticize his team or players publicly. The players, however, will reveal the truth. And it only took one question in the Los Angeles Chargers locker room Sunday evening to get to the crux of what happened to the defense in a 38-24 blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
“We played like s—,” safety Derwin James Jr. said.
Simple, concise and accurate.
The Colts offense utterly dominated this game. Coach and play caller Shane Steichen pitched a near-perfect game against Chargers coordinator Jesse Minter. The Colts scored touchdowns on their first three drives. The Chargers only forced two punts on nine possessions. There were receivers and tight ends running free to all three levels of the field. The Chargers were no match for the Colts at the line of scrimmage. They were no match for the Colts in the open field.
“We looked like trash,” James said. “We gave up 40 points in our own stadium.”
The Colts produced 10 explosive plays — six through the air and four on the ground. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor rushed for 94 yards and three touchdowns on 16 carries. Taylor had three rushes of at least 19 yards. Two of those went for scores. On all three of Taylor’s touchdowns, he found the end zone virtually untouched. The Chargers have now given up seven designed rushing touchdowns of more than 5 yards this season. They allowed two such rushing touchdowns all of last season.
Quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 288 yards on 34 attempts. The Colts entered this game leading the NFL in play-action rate. The Chargers knew Steichen’s scheme was rooted in the play-action boot game. On play-action dropbacks that resulted in pass attempts outside the pocket, Jones finished 5-for-6 for 74 yards and a touchdown, according to TruMedia. Colts tight end Tyler Warren caught two passes in the flat on such dropbacks. Both catches went for 29 yards on busted coverages.
“We weren’t locked in on the details,” James said. “Simple s— to the flat, boots, everything we practiced.”
On Jones’ longest completion of the day, a 48-yarder to receiver Alec Pierce in the second quarter, Steichen schemed up a route combination that surgically picked apart the Chargers’ zone defense.
“What you seen out there is a team that executed when we didn’t,” linebacker Daiyan Henley said.
By expected points added per play, this was the worst defensive performance since Harbaugh and Minter joined the Chargers before the 2024 season, according to TruMedia. Yes, worse than the 40-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yes, worse than the 30-23 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
In fact, two of the Chargers’ worst five EPA/play performances have come in the past three weeks, according to TruMedia. The 27-10 loss to the Washington Commanders in Week 5 is now the fifth-worst in the Harbaugh-Minter era.
The Chargers cannot rely on their defense right now, and that is very concerning for their season. They struggled to slow down the Miami Dolphins last week before escaping with a victory. The Dolphins scored six points against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, and quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got benched.
The Chargers played the same way against one of the best offenses in the league, and the result was predictable.
“It wasn’t our best day,” Harbaugh said.
It was their worst day.
“What you see out there this year is the ups and downs,” Henley said. “We’re riding the waves too long. We have to stay even-keeled. So a lot of times you see us get a little too high or a little too low, and that’d be the problem right about now.”
The Chargers are injured on offense. They have needed their defense to carry the team over the past three weeks. The unit has instead regressed at an alarming rate.
Harbaugh is patching together an offensive line. Tackle Joe Alt (ankle) missed his third straight game Sunday. Tackle Trey Pipkins (knee) missed his second straight game. Tackle Rashawn Slater is already out for the season. Tackle and guard Jamaree Salyer missed last week with a knee injury. He was active Sunday but did not play. For the second straight week, the Chargers started their fifth- and sixth-string tackles, Austin Deculus and Bobby Hart. Deculus missed snaps Sunday with an ankle injury, and Foster Sarell — the team’s seventh-string tackle — replaced him.
The Chargers are just trying to survive on offense. In the meantime, the defense has turned into a bigger liability than the offense.
Since Week 5, the Chargers have been last in the league in defensive EPA per play, according to TruMedia.
“We just got to look inward and be better,” James said. “I keep saying the same s—. The last three or four weeks, I’ve been saying the same thing.”
Despite the offensive line injuries, quarterback Justin Herbert threw for a career-high 420 yards as the Chargers tried to claw back from an early 20-3 deficit.
Herbert threw two interceptions in the second quarter after the Colts took that lead — one on a batted pass at the Indianapolis 28-yard line, and one in the Indianapolis end zone.
Those two possessions proved meaningful in a game when the defense could not get a stop.
“We can’t expect to win games when I turn the ball over in the red zone like that,” Herbert said.
Justin Herbert’s career-high 420 yards wasn’t enough for the Chargers. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)
After the game, Harbaugh talked about “courage” and “fight” and a “never quit” attitude. That certainly applied to the offense. Herbert engineered a six-play, 70-yard touchdown drive to open the second half, bringing the Chargers within two scores.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Chargers gave up an 81-yard return. Edge rusher Tuli Tuipulotu was playing on kickoff coverage for the first time this season. He took over the position that had been held by Caleb Murphy, whom the Chargers cut on Saturday. Tuipulotu was out of his gap on the long return.
“Improvements need to be made, really, in all phases,” Harbaugh said.
The defense forced its second punt of the game early in the fourth quarter. The Chargers took over at their own 11-yard line. Herbert converted two fourth downs on a 21-play drive that ended in a turnover on downs.
The last team to have a drive of at least 21 plays that ended without points? The New Orleans Saints, in 2007.
This offense is too short-handed to compete in a shootout.
The defense has injuries, too. Edge rusher Khalil Mack returned from an elbow injury Sunday, playing for the first time since Week 2. But he was limited to just 12 snaps. Safety Elijah Molden missed Sunday’s game with a thumb injury. James has been playing through a wrist injury. Henley’s season was derailed by a severe illness that put him in the hospital.
But the health issues on defense do not compare to what the Chargers have endured along the offensive line.
“Every team in the NFL is going through injuries,” James said. “It’s not an excuse for us. We got to be better.”
The Chargers have lost three of their last four games. They have fallen to 4-3 and are out of first place in the division. They have a quick turnaround this week, with the Minnesota Vikings coming to SoFi Stadium on Thursday night.
The defense must improve, or this season is going to slip away.
“We haven’t been ourselves on defense, starting with myself as a captain,” James said. “We got to get it fixed.”