“Humble Pie”: Chargers Start 0-2 After Six-Fumble Loss

Justin Herbert has two touchdowns and three interceptions in two games, and Buffalo, Seattle and Kansas City are next.

The Chargers fumbled six times Sunday in a 26-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at SoFi Stadium. It was their second straight defeat by that score, and it puts them at 0-2. Both clubs that have beaten them won three games last season, a point Mirjam Swanson made in a Los Angeles Times column Monday arguing that the new offensive coordinator's scheme is what's breaking down.

The easy part of the schedule is the part that just ended. Ahead are Buffalo, then Seattle, the reigning Super Bowl champion, then Denver, then Kansas City, then the Rams, who opened as preseason Super Bowl favorites. Swanson wrote that roughly 15% of teams starting 0-2 still reach the postseason.

Through two games, Justin Herbert has thrown for 401 yards, by the Times' accounting. He has two touchdowns against three interceptions. One of those interceptions bounced off David Njoku's hands on Sunday, and left tackle Joe Alt was flagged four times, including a hold that handed the Raiders a safety.

Swanson's case against Mike McDaniel, hired in January as coordinator, rests on a single third-and-inches call. Herbert, at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, lined up in the shotgun, motion called, and the snap struck receiver Tre' Harris before it ever reached him.

Five yards lost. Herbert slapped the turf.

Greg Roman was fired after last season's wild-card exit against the New England Patriots, a game in which the Chargers managed three points, and his replacement arrived with a reputation built under Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco — a reputation that, per the Times, drew interest from Baltimore, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, Buffalo and Las Vegas before he picked Los Angeles. McDaniel had been dismissed as head coach in Miami after two seasons without a playoff berth. He's Herbert's fifth coordinator in seven professional seasons.

Jim Harbaugh's first two Chargers teams won 11 games apiece. He hadn't lost to the Raiders, and he hadn't opened a season with two straight losses, until this month. Asked Sunday where the problem sits, he said he isn't looking in any single direction and is reviewing all of it, the Times reported.

Asked afterward what his coordinator had told the offense, Herbert said: “I haven't been able to speak with him after.”

Buffalo is next.

Source: latimes.com, retrieved September 21, 2026.