Jim Harbaugh has brought a lot of energy to the Los Angeles Chargers.
However, he hasn’t been able to change the team’s tendency to lose in heartbreaking ways, which fans call “Chargering.”
Monday night’s 17-15 defeat against the Arizona Cardinals marked the sixth time since the Chargers moved to Los Angeles in 2017 that they have lost on the final play of the game, and the twelfth time including overtime.
Harbaugh hopes this loss will strengthen the team instead of adding more negativity to a group that is used to close losses.
“The stuff that builds a callus. There is a taste in the mouth,” Harbaugh said. “Like Nelson Mandela said, ‘I don’t lose, either win or I learn.’ To me, what that means is let’s make sure we learn from things that happen and let that make us better.
As opposed to any kind of deflecting or anything other than that, so that’s what we do.” Two areas where the Chargers (3-3) need to improve right away are their red zone offense and their performance in the fourth quarter.
The team has scored touchdowns on five out of 13 chances when inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. This 38.5% success rate is the third lowest in the league.
“We have to do a good job of playing the way the game needs to be played, not the way we want to play,” said quarterback Justin Herbert, who threw for a season-high 349 yards.
“We moved the ball well. We did everything we could. We executed on some third downs. But when it matters most, we have to be able to go out there and execute and score on those drives.”
This also means they need to perform better in the final 15 minutes. Since scoring two touchdowns and winning 22-10 against Las Vegas in Week 1, the Chargers have not scored in the fourth quarter and have been outscored 43-9 in the last five games.
Herbert recorded his 26th 300-yard passing game of his career on Monday night, but his record in those games is 13-13.
“If we’re spreading the ball around and controlling all aspects of the field, I think that’s huge for our offense. But there’s a lot to improve and we’re looking forward to the challenge of this week,” Herbert said.
