Playoff-contending teams would like to be on a winning streak as they head into the final three games of the regular season.
But instead, the Los Angeles Chargers are struggling after their 40-17 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, with little time to recover before their next big game.
“You play a game in the National Football League, give up 40 points and 500 yards, there’s a high level of concern,” said defensive coordinator Jesse Minter on Monday. “I think you look to your foundation and what you’ve built over time and hope that your foundation allows you to rebound from a game like that. You hope that it’s only a one-off.”
The only positive for the Chargers as they prepare for Thursday night’s game against AFC West rival Denver is that they have an 83% chance of making the playoffs, according to the NFL.
Los Angeles (8-6), which has lost three of its last four games, holds the last wild-card spot in the AFC and has a two-game lead over Indianapolis, Miami, and Cincinnati.
A win against Denver would give the Chargers the season sweep and the tiebreaker if both teams have the same record at the end of the season. No one wants to be the seventh seed because it would likely mean a first-round game against either Buffalo or Kansas City.
However, the loss to the Buccaneers highlighted areas where the Chargers are still struggling.
The offense has become one-dimensional since running back J.K. Dobbins suffered a knee injury against Baltimore on November 25.
The Chargers had a balanced attack for most of the season but have been running the ball on only 33.1% of their plays over the past three games since Dobbins was placed on injured reserve. The league average during the same period is 39.1%.
The Chargers gained a season-low 32 rushing yards against Tampa Bay and are averaging just 60.7 yards on the ground in their last three games, which is far below their season average of 105.8 yards.
At the same time, the defense has struggled to stop the run.
Tampa Bay’s 223 rushing yards were the second time in four games that the Chargers allowed at least 200 yards rushing. Teams are averaging 4.7 yards per carry against them.
“You’re probably not going to reinvent the wheel this week with the guys in terms of what you’re doing. So you don’t want to really do too much new stuff,” said offensive coordinator Greg Roman. “The great thing is we got a lot of stuff that we haven’t done yet that we’ve been working on.”
