Mike McDaniel moved upstairs to call plays on Sunday, but the change did little to protect Justin Herbert, who spent much of the afternoon under relentless pressure as the Houston Texans sacked him eight times at SoFi Stadium.

By the time Los Angeles finally reached the end zone, the Chargers were already trailing 38-9, and the eventual 44-22 loss dropped them to 0-8.

Fans Call for Mike McDaniel’s Firing After Chargers Fall to 0–8

The latest loss only intensified the frustration around Los Angeles, and much of the criticism on social media quickly shifted toward McDaniel. Several fans questioned whether the Chargers could justify keeping him in charge after an 0-8 start, with some calling for an immediate coaching change.

“Mike McDaniel gotta be fired tonight. They are playing pitiful football,” one fan wrote.

YouTuber UrinatingTree pointed to the fit between McDaniel’s offense and the players running it. “Mike McDaniel is such a godawful match for the personnel they have, it’s not even funny. This is more than injuries,”he wrote.

“And somehow Mike McDaniel still has a job in the NFL…” another user wrote, while reacting to a stat showing that, at one point in the game, the Chargers had gone 13 straight quarters without scoring a touchdown.

Former Miami sports radio host Jon Linder made a prediction of his own. “I can feel it. Mike McDaniel is getting fired tomorrow. He’s a good guy but he’s been pushing the wrong buttons on offense for a long time,”Linder wrote. “Side note: I think he’d be a perfect as is character for a new Cheech & Chong movie if those guys ever get the band back together.”

The frustration had been building before Sunday. Jim Harbaugh kept McDaniel on play-calling duty after the bye, and the Chargers came back with nine points in a loss to the Rams.

They entered the Texans game averaging a league-low 14.1 points, then put up three field goals and punted four times in the first half. Herbert had 63 passing yards at the break, and Houston led 24–9.

The View From the Booth Couldn’t Fix the Chargers’ Offense

McDaniel said he wanted tocall plays from the coaches’ box so he could see defensive adjustments himself and communicate more effectively with his position coaches between series.

It was a setup he’d used as San Francisco’s offensive coordinator in 2021. Tyler Schoon, co-host of the “Guilty as Charged” podcast, had a more cynical read. “I’m convinced moving Mike McDaniel to the booth was just to protect him from player and fan protests,”Schoon wrote.

“Moving Mike McDaniel up to the box obviously didn’t help the Chargers. Next week he might be sitting in the parking lot,”one viewer wrote.

The third quarter gave McDaniel plenty to look at. Derek Stingley Jr. intercepted Herbert, Keaton Mitchell lost a fumble that Houston recovered, and the Chargers’ other possession ended on downs.

That fumble wiped out a trip deep into Texans territory, where a touchdown could have given Los Angeles something to build on. The Chargers, who rank last on PFN’s Offense Impact Metric, went the entire quarter without a point.

Herbert’s 58-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Johnston finally ended a streak of 37 possessions without a touchdown. Backup DJ Uiagalelei threw another score after Herbert came out. By then, C.J. Stroud had thrown five touchdown passes, and Herbert had spent enough time under pressure for eight sacks to feel like the defining number of the afternoon.

The Chargers head to Baltimore on Monday, Nov. 16. Wherever the play caller sits, the first task is the same. Get Herbert through a series upright and give the offense a chance to finish a drive before the game gets away from them again.