ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The Chargers did a lot right for a while Sunday night. They took the ball away.
They kept Buffalo off balance. They even spent most of the first half looking like the team that had traveled to Highmark Stadium with a plan.
It still ended the same way. Buffalo pulled away late for a 24-16 win, and the Chargers walked out at 0-3 with their season already leaning hard toward crisis.
That’s the part that stings: this wasn’t a total collapse from the opening snap. The Chargers forced five turnovers, stayed relatively clean themselves, and played a credible first half against a Bills team that came in 2-0 with the NFL’s best offense and 77 points already on the board. But the good work never turned into enough cushion, and once Buffalo settled in, the game tilted.
The Chargers opened fast. They had 10 points in the first quarter, didn’t commit a penalty, and didn’t turn the ball over.
They also forced three takeaways in that stretch, including two interceptions by rookie safety Genesis Smith after Josh Allen tried to attack him early. One of those turnovers set up Cameron Dicker’s 31-yard field goal, and the other helped keep the Bills scrambling.
Justin Herbert also delivered the early punch, finding running back Keaton Mitchell for a 1-yard touchdown pass after James Cook coughed up the ball on Buffalo’s first play from scrimmage. That gave the Chargers a 10-0 lead and, for a moment, control.
But control is a slippery thing in Buffalo.
Dicker missed from 45 yards, a rare miss that opened the door for the Bills to flip the mood before halftime. Allen answered with two scoring drives in the final 6:02 of the half, and his 1-yard quarterback sneak with 16 seconds left tied the game at 10-10.
The Chargers had their chances to build on the opening burst. Instead, the second quarter went scoreless for them, and the margin for error shrank. They did get back in front in the third when Dicker hit from 21 yards on the opening possession of the half, even while the offense was dealing with penalties for false starts, blocking in the back, and holding.
That 13-10 lead didn’t last.
Allen pushed Buffalo ahead 17-13 midway through the fourth with his second 1-yard sneak of the day, forcing the Chargers into a late chase. They never found the answer. Cook finished it off with a 3-yard touchdown run with 3:13 remaining, and that was that.
For Jim Harbaugh, it marked unfamiliar territory. He had never started an NFL season 0-2 before Sunday. For the Chargers, it was their first 0-3 start since 2017, when they opened their first season as the Los Angeles Chargers 0-4 before finishing 9-7 and second in the AFC West.
Now they head to Seattle to face the Super Bowl champion Seahawks next Sunday, with the possibility of staring down a repeat of that old 0-4 beginning.
In Other News...
Justin Herbert Took A Brutal National TV Shot In Chargers Loss
Justin Herberts rough night against Buffalo got even louder in the fourth quarter, when a mistake in a big spot turned into national-TV criticism from one of the most recognizable voices in football. In the Chargers Week 3 loss, Herberts interception was picked off by Bills safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson and quickly helped set up the kind of response drive that can swing a game, with Buffalo finishing off a 24-16 win.
Tom Brady, working the FOX booth with Kevin Burkhardt, did not soften the moment as it unfolded. For Herbert and the Chargers, it was the sort of sequence that can linger beyond the box score, especially when the turnover comes late enough to change the entire feel of the game and leaves the team trying to explain another missed chance against a quality opponent. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Win Left The Chargers With A Much Bigger Problem
The Chargers came out of Week 3 with something even more frustrating than a loss to Buffalo: another reminder that winning the turnover battle is not enough when the offense cannot cash it in. The defeat fit a troubling early-season pattern, with the Chargers struggles on that side of the ball drawing scrutiny under coach Mike McDaniel as they try to keep pace in a crowded AFC picture.
Los Angeles is hardly alone in dealing with early anxiety, with the Packers wrestling with line problems around Jordan Love and the Buccaneers buried under a three-game skid while Baker Mayfield deals with an injury issue. But for the Chargers, the concern is more immediate because the Buffalo result suggested the bigger problem is not bad luck or one mistake, it is whether the offense can do enough to make the rest of the roster matter. [Read more 🡒]
Tom Brady Took A Brutal Public Shot At Justin Herbert
During the Chargers' matchup with the Bills, Justin Herbert ran into one of those nationally televised moments that gets replayed long after the snap itself. A pass intended for the offense instead ended up in C.J. Gardner-Johnson's hands, and Tom Brady, working the game as a color commentator, did not soften the critique one bit.
Brady went right at Herbert's awareness and decision-making on the play, even using the phrase "Meatball Sub" to describe the throw's placement. It was the kind of blunt, unsparing analysis that has already become part of Brady's early broadcasting identity, and for Chargers fans, it only added to the sting of watching a mistake turn into a turnover on a big stage. [Read more 🡒]