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The Los Angeles Chargers are in a bad, bad way.
Jim Harbaugh’s Chargers are 0-6 coming out of a bye with little in the way of changed plans except for staying the course. Things are so samey around the Chargers that even other teams are confused about how they’re approaching the NFL trade deadline.
Maybe the only silver lining for the Chargers right now is the fact they clutch the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, at least for now. There’s plenty of cap space, too, though whether they use it to get aggressive during a possible rebuild next offseason will have fans justifiably skeptical.
Now is the time of a season like this where the stories start coming out about how the Chargers got innovative to turn the season around.
The 2026 version of this story for the Chargers, though, is pretty alarming.
The Chargers didn't get creative during the bye week. They kept things the same, doubling down on pretty much everything, including offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
And McDaniel? He held an “all-hands” meeting with his offense.
The topic? Reviewing training camp practice footage.
According to The Athletic’s Noah Furtado, the big Monday meeting was a notable one.
“For over an hour, the Los Angeles Chargers studied more than a dozen snaps from their joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers, a team not on their schedule for another couple of months,” Furtado wrote.
So, in near-November at 0-6, the Chargers grouped up and watched August film from a joint-practice where sacks didn’t count. They beat up on the 49ers that day, yes, but they went on to lose six straight real games while those 49ers won six straight.
Whatever messaging McDaniel was trying to achieve gets a little lost in the context. Justin Herbert is still tied for the most interceptions (eight) and turnovers (10) in the NFL despite the bye, among many other horrific stats.
McDaniel and Herbert, per Furtado, linked up for a pair of two-hour film review sessions during the bye, so there’s that.
We’ve mentioned before that firing McDaniel mid-season might not actually accomplish much at this point. But the fact the big all-hands meeting meant to inspire change was a film review of a summer practice session really speaks to just how far off the rails this Chargers season has gone.