The Chargers’ latest stumble came in a way that felt all too familiar. A 26-14 home loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday - a team that closed out 2025 on a nine-game losing streak - only deepened the questions around Jim Harbaugh’s group.
Los Angeles did open with some life. The Chargers put together a 77-yard touchdown march on their first possession, finishing with an eight-yard Omarion Hampton run.
But that was about the peak of the afternoon. Arizona answered with an 11-play, 70-yard drive to start the game, capped by a four-yard Jeremiyah Love touchdown, and from there Mike LaFleur’s team stayed in control without ever trailing.
The numbers told the story of a team that spent too much time chasing. The Cardinals outgained the Chargers by 125 total yards, ran 21 more offensive plays, 72-51, and held the ball for more than 15 minutes longer.
Justin Herbert completed 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception, while taking three sacks and escaping the pocket five times for 29 yards. On the other side, Chris O’Leary’s defense gave up 393 total yards, including 116 on the ground and 277 through the air.
Harbaugh didn’t sugarcoat the result afterward, saying he should’ve given his starters more work in the preseason. “We made some preseason-type mistakes.”
The bigger concern is what Sunday says about the Chargers under Harbaugh beyond the AFC West. Since taking over in 2024, he’s posted back-to-back 11-6 regular seasons and gone one-and-done in the playoffs each time. Add in the loss to Arizona, and his record with the franchise sits at 22-15.
The divisional record still looks strong enough on paper: 9-3 combined against Las Vegas, Denver and Kansas City, with the Raiders swept at 4-0, the Broncos at 3-1 and the Chiefs at 2-2. Outside the division, though, the Chargers are just 13-12. That includes a 7-7 mark against AFC opponents and 6-5 against NFC teams.
That pattern has shown up before. After a 3-0 start last season - all against AFC West competition - the Chargers dropped a Week 4 game at MetLife Stadium to the New York Giants, 21-18, then returned home and lost to the Washington Commanders, 27-10, the following week.
Sunday also came against a backdrop of offseason optimism around a healthier, reworked offensive line and the hiring of Mike McDaniel. Instead, Los Angeles managed 77 yards and a touchdown on its opening drive, then produced just 191 total yards and another score the rest of the way.
For a team expected to look sharper, the performance at SoFi Stadium was flat. And the lingering issue is impossible to ignore: why do the Chargers keep running into trouble against teams outside their own division?
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Los Angeles was already acknowledging the mistakes that helped swing the game, and the blunt critique only added weight to a disappointing start. For a team trying to set a tone in September, the bigger issue now is not what went wrong in one game, but how quickly the offense can clean it up before the opener becomes part of a larger problem. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Defense Already Has One Concerning Question After O'Leary Debut
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Los Angeles did make adjustments as the game went on, but the damage from the early breakdowns helped put the Chargers in a hole they could not climb out of. With the defense needing cleaner execution and the offense unable to turn its chances into points, the debut left a familiar concern hanging over a unit that will need to look sharper soon. [Read more 🡒]