The Chargers’ offense has been hard to watch, but the answer may not be a quick hook for Mike McDaniel.
Los Angeles is sitting at 0-6, and the unit has done little to justify confidence in the plan that brought McDaniel in to run the offense. Justin Herbert has been turning the ball over too often, the scoring has dried up, and the Chargers have repeatedly failed to finish drives. Even with all of that, the case for keeping McDaniel in place through the rest of the season still holds weight.
Jim Harbaugh said today that McDaniel will continue calling the offense as the Chargers come out of their bye week. That decision will frustrate plenty of fans, but a midseason change would not automatically fix what’s broken. The offense has been a mess, yet swapping out the play-caller now would only create a different set of questions.
McDaniel’s résumé is part of why he was hired in the first place. His work in Miami showed he can build productive offenses, generate explosive plays and put points on the board.
The Chargers wanted that kind of mind working with Herbert, one of the league’s most talented quarterbacks. So far, that pairing has not clicked.
But there is still value in finding out whether it can.
The problems around the offense have not been limited to coaching. Injuries along the offensive line and at wide receiver have made life harder, and turnovers, dropped passes and penalties have piled on. None of that erases the responsibility that comes with play-calling, but it does matter when deciding whether the entire setup should be blown up right now.
With the season already trending toward disaster, the Chargers do not gain much by making a panic move just to signal urgency. A better use of the final stretch might be simplifying the offense, getting healthier and trying to build some steadiness from week to week.
Even if the wins do not come right away, progress would matter. The Chargers need to see Herbert move in the right direction, establish a more dependable running game and get their playmakers more involved. Those are realistic benchmarks, even if the postseason is slipping out of reach.
If the Chargers do decide to move on, Adam Gase is one name with offensive coordinator experience who could take over the play-calling. But that would come with its own risk. His success with Peyton Manning in Denver is long in the rearview mirror, and his time as a head coach in Miami and New York raised plenty of doubts about whether he can consistently run an offense.
So this is not a case of McDaniel being protected from scrutiny. It is the opposite.
He should be judged on what happens next. Keeping him in place does not excuse the offense’s failures; it gives him the chance to show the ideas that made him an appealing hire can still work in Los Angeles.
The Chargers are past the point of simply trying to rescue this season. What matters now is figuring out whether McDaniel can be part of what comes next. If the offense keeps looking this bad, the organization will not be able to avoid a hard decision for long.
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Protection up front is a major part of the equation against a Rams front that can wreck a game plan, especially with Aaron Donald and Byron Young coming after the pocket. The Chargers are also trying to sort out an inconsistent running game while dealing with offensive line injuries, and even with Joe Alt trending toward availability, Rashawn Slater remains on injured reserve. How those moving parts hold up will go a long way toward deciding whether this feels like a post-bye reset or another familiar problem. [Read more 🡒]