When the Los Angeles Chargers hosted the Houston Texans at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, NFL analyst Nick Wright was watching the early games at a local sports bar. As kickoff approached, he noticed something unusual: Not a single TV was showing the Chargers game.

Wright said the bar had 30 TVs, yet nobody seemed bothered that the local team wasn’t on any of them. After Los Angeles fell to 0-8 with another loss in Week 9, the story gave fans fresh reason to question whether the Chargers ever belonged in LA.

Nick Wright’s Sports Bar Story Brings Out San Diego Fans

“Watching the early window in a sports bar in LA. Thirty TVs. The Chargers game just kicked off. It’s on zero of the TVs,” Wright wrote. “Absolutely no one has complained, and I think I’m the only person who noticed.”

The Chargers kicked off the home game at 1:05 p.m. local time, but apparently weren’t getting much attention at the bar. For some fans, that was another sign that Los Angeles hasn’t fully embraced the franchise.

“Chargers don’t belong in LA. We all know this,”one fan wrote.

“They need to move back to San Diego, where they’re appreciated,”a second fan added.

Through Week 9, LA’s offense ranks No. 32 with a PFN Offense Impact Score of 61.2, while star quarterback Justin Herbert sits last among quarterbacks at No. 35 with a PFN QB Impact Score of 59.9.

One fan said the team “should apologize to the people of San Diego and relocate back,”in a reply to Wright.

“Bring them back to SD and get rid of [Owner Dean] Spanos,”another fan wrote.

That attachment to San Diego was quite clear in August, when the Chargers held two training camp practices at the University of San Diego. Fans packed the bleachers at Torero Stadium, and some told KPBS they still felt the sting of the move nearly a decade later.

Dean Spanos acknowledged the challenge when he announced the relocation in 2017. The Chargers had spent their first season in Los Angeles in 1960 before moving to San Diego, where they remained for 56 years.

In his letter announcing the move, Spanos said the franchise would have to earn the support of Los Angeles football fans. The Rams had returned to the city a year earlier, giving the new team an immediate local rival for fans’ attention.

Fans Say Raiders Would Have Made More Sense in LA

“The Chargers should still be in San Diego. If the NFL wanted two teams in LA, they should have convinced the Raiders to move here instead,”one X user argued.

The Raiders spent 13 seasons in Los Angeles, from 1982 to 1994, before returning to Oakland. They then moved to Las Vegas in 2020.

“You can make a strong argument that the Chargers aren’t a top-5 football team in LA when it comes to popularity,”one fan wrote. The fan ranked the Rams, Raiders and 49ers ahead of the Chargers, while also bringing USC and UCLA into the discussion.

USA TODAY reported that 17% of adults in the Los Angeles market had watched, streamed, attended, listened to, or followed the Chargers over the year covered by Nielsen Scarborough’s fandom data. The Rams came in at 24%.

The Chargers made a change ahead of Sunday’s game, with offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel planning to call plays from the booth against Houston.

Herbert completed 13 of 23 passes for 193 yards, one touchdown, and one interception in the game. His 58-yard scoring connection with Quentin Johnston came in the fourth quarter, but the Texans still won 44-22, dropping Los Angeles to 0-8.