Los Angeles Chargers: Takeaways from loss to Arizona Cardinals

Los Angeles had plenty of opportunities to win Monday’s game in Arizona. Turn any of Cameron Dicker’s five field goals into touchdowns. Hold on to the ball on the goal line after a 44 yard reception in the fourth quarter. Don’t fumble an interception return on the first drive of the game.

Alas, Monday instead brought a classic Chargering, the kind that LA vowed to eliminate by hiring consummate winner Jim Harbaugh this offseason.

Here’s what to take away from the night.

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Harbaugh has been a terrible game management coach for the Chargers all season, and those bad habits loomed large on Monday night. Los Angeles burned an early timeout in the third quarter when receivers Brenden Rice and Jalen Reagor couldn’t get lined up properly, eliciting an emotional reaction from a frustrated Justin Herbert. Rather than take a delay of game penalty on a drive where the Chargers kicked a 28 yard field goal four plays later anyway, LA used a timeout that they sorely could’ve used when the game reached its final minutes.

On the following drive, Harbaugh elected to kick a field goal on 4th and 3 from the Cardinals 29 yard line down 14-9 with 12 minutes left in the game. Analytical models gave the Chargers a 4% higher win probability if they went for it, not even including the context that Herbert was dealing on that particular series. Cameron Dicker’s field goal was good, at least, drawing LA within 2 points of the lead, but it was a missed opportunity to go for the jugular.

Even at the end of the game, on a second and 5 play from the Chargers 17, Los Angeles should have at least tried to let Arizona score. The Chargers had one timeout left and had failed to tackle Cardinals running back James Conner on two consecutive plays as it was. The worst outcome there is that Conner has the awareness to go down and then Arizona does the exact same sequence to win the game 10 yards closer to the end zone. But there’s at least a chance that the Cardinals go into the end zone and give Herbert the ball back with a minute to go and one timeout.

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Los Angeles has been inconsistent on the ground all season, a trend that was hidden for the first two weeks of the season because of a handful of explosive runs from JK Dobbins. Over the other three games leading up to Monday’s contest, the Chargers could at least point to injuries on the offensive line as a key reason why the ground game wasn’t getting going.

Arizona entered Monday night as the fifth-worst defense by both expected points added (EPA)/play and success rate, while the Chargers had all five starting offensive linemen healthy and playing. Los Angeles averaged 2.7 yards per carry.

Without those explosive runs – Dobbins’ longest carry went for 11 yards – the Chargers’ run game has gotten stale quickly. Defenses have keyed on LA’s desire to flow through the ground attack, evident on Monday by the way the Cardinals crashed to the ball every time Herbert handed it off. Even with heavier pass scripts in this game and last week against Denver, defenses know they can cut off the run game to bring LA’s offense to a screeching halt.

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Generally speaking, the Chargers have been a strong tackling team this season under coordinator Jesse Minter. Injuries to the defense and the scrambling nature of Kyler Murray made it difficult for LA to keep up with Arizona all night, however. The team’s best run defender has fairly clearly been linebacker Denzel Perryman, but he played just 33 snaps because of his deficiencies as an athlete and coverage player. The results were…poor, as Daiyan Henley missed four tackles and Junior Colson took a bad angle on a Murray scramble that resulted in a 44 yard touchdown.

James Conner forced eleven missed tackles, according to Pro Football Focus’ initial charting of Monday night’s game. It felt like the veteran running back took it to the Chargers defense, refusing to go down at first contact and powering through arm tackles en route to 152 yards from scrimmage. PFF credited Conner with 4.84 yards after contact on his 19 rushing attempts.

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Exactly 91 minutes of game time have elapsed since the Chargers’ last touchdown, a 4 yard Dobbins run with 1:00 remaining in the first half of last week’s Broncos game. Since then, Los Angeles has started 15 drives. 6 have ended in punts, 6 in field goals, 2 in the end of a half or game, and 1 in a fumble (Jalen Reagor’s in the first quarter on Monday.)

This is despite Justin Herbert setting consecutive season bests in passing yardage with 237 and 349. It is despite putting up nearly 500 yards of total offense in those six quarters. Thirteen Chargers players have touched the ball in that span to varying degrees of success. None of them have found the end zone.

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Despite the general malaise of Monday night’s game, the Chargers did have a number of great performances, led by a career night for tight end Will Dissly, who had 8 receptions for 81 yards. Dissly was targeted eleven times with Los Angeles hurting at wide receiver and Hayden Hurst out with an injury, pacing the Chargers in every receiving category.

The man throwing Dissly the ball had arguably his best game of the season as well. Herbert threw for a season-best 349 yards on 27-of-39 passing, with 5 of those 12 incompletions charted as drops. PFF also charted Herbert with five big time throws, which more than doubles his total for the season.

Edge rusher Khalil Mack had four pressures and affected the game early as he continues another standout season for the Chargers at age 33. He led LA in pressures and had their only two batted passes of the game.

Rookies Tarheeb Still and Cam Hart were asked to step up on the boundary after injuries to Asante Samuel Jr., Deane Leonard, and Kristian Fulton (who was active but played just 10 snaps). Still, playing on the outside for the first time in his career, allowed just 1 catch for 4 yards on 3 targets. Hart held his own against rookie star Marvin Harrison Jr. while being peppered with targets by Murray, allowing 4 receptions for 40 yards on 7 targets.

Cameron Dicker once again proved that he’s one of the best kickers in the league with five field goals, including a team record-tying 59 yarder to open the scoring followed by makes from 50, 28, 47, and 40.

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