The Texans and Chargers are set to meet Sunday afternoon at SoFi Stadium, and the matchup comes with plenty of baggage for both sides. Houston enters at 2-5, Los Angeles at 0-7, which leaves the two teams with a combined 2-12 record heading into what the source calls Houston’s second official “Toilet Bowl” game of the year. For the Texans, the bigger question is less about this one afternoon and more about whether anything meaningful can still be salvaged from the final 10 games.
That backdrop made for a blunt conversation with Grant Bellchamber, the Los Angeles Chargers analyst and site expert for Fansided’s Bolt Beat, who returned for another four-question Q&A with Toro Times. His read on the Chargers was not exactly glowing.
When asked which team has been the bigger disappointment, Bellchamber pointed first to Houston’s frustration, especially with the preseason expectations tied to David Montgomery and the continuity on defense. But he ultimately landed on the Chargers.
“This is still a borderline top-10 defense even after the departure of Jesse Minter, but the offense has been so ridiculously horrendous (and frankly unwatchable) that it’s hard to imagine this team even coming away with a win before the end of the season, let alone finding any sort of entertainment value on a weekly basis. This is a scheme that was supposed to bring the Chargers into Super Bowl contention, and instead we’ve gotten the worst version of Justin Herbert and a team with seemingly no cohesive identity.”
That leads straight to the season Justin Herbert is having, one that has gone sideways in a hurry. Herbert enters the week with a league-leading 10 INT’s, and Bellchamber traced the problem back to a major shift in how the offense is asking him to play.
He said the old Greg Roman setup, while limited, at least played to Herbert’s strengths. In Bellchamber’s view, Herbert has always been most dangerous when he can break structure, escape pressure, and create explosive plays downfield while still cashing in on the shorter throws. What McDaniel has done, he said, is try to remake Herbert into a quarterback who wins with anticipation and timing.
That kind of change can trip up even a good passer. But Bellchamber said Herbert has gone far beyond that, describing him as the worst quarterback in the league by most metrics because he’s pressing and trying to force the issue inside the system rather than letting the offense come to him.
The Texans, meanwhile, arrive with a defense that sits 19th in total defense, a ranking Bellchamber called “ludicrous.” Even so, he doesn’t sound convinced the Chargers are suddenly positioned to break out on offense.
In his view, Houston’s biggest defensive issue has been giving up explosive plays and not being able to match last season’s turnover production. That turnover tendency could help Los Angeles, but Bellchamber still doesn’t see the Chargers consistently stretching the Texans into a game where the defense is surrendering multiple big plays.
If the Chargers are going to find any kind of offensive spark, he said, it would likely have to come with their own defense doing enough to make that the difference. Even then, he’s not banking on it, especially with Houston’s pass rush still in place.
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