The bye week did not change the Chargers' fortunes.

Jim Harbaugh's squad lost their seventh game of the season in seven tries on Sunday, falling 24-9 to the Rams in SoFi Stadium.

Here's what to take away from the game.

Hot seat

Los Angeles has not scored a touchdown in their last 27 drives, dating back to the third quarter against the Broncos in Week 5. Their run game was again dead on arrival despite the return of Joe Alt from a neck injury, averaging 2.6 yards per carry. Offensive linemen Cole Strange and Jake Slaughter continue to consistently underperform even as the cast around them changes and performs at a higher level. The Chargers elected not to fire offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel during the bye week, likely wanting to give him the opportunity to show what the offense might look like with Alt and wide receiver Ladd McConkey, who has been in and out of the lineup with a foot injury and concussion, back in the lineup.

It still looked bad. Sticking with McDaniel after this showing would be committing to saving a season that has already been lost.

Justin Herbert's regression

Perhaps the greatest crime of the McDaniel tenure has been just how terrible Herbert has looked this season. He is now the only NFL quarterback to throw an interception in every single one of his team's games. Both interceptions on Sunday were ugly - on the first, you could at least argue that Herbert simply believes he has the arm strength to get the ball past Rams safety Quentin Lake and through to tight end Charlie Kolar. But on the second, Herbert merely lost track of Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie, a play broken down well by color analyst and Hall of Famer Drew Brees on the TV copy. Herbert making a mistake of that caliber was a rarity before this season but has become almost a given this year. Something about the offense is clearly not clicking with him, and the Chargers do not have a way to move on from him before the end of the year, even if they wanted to (they shouldn't want to). To protect their investment in Herbert for 2027 and beyond, they have to hope that a new voice - whether pass game coordinator Shane Day, a Herbert ally, or pass game specialist Adam Gase, who has run an offense more similar to what Herbert does well when he has been a coordinator - can get through to him.

Squandered momentum

What makes the Chargers' failures in this game difficult to swallow is how within reach the game felt for most of the afternoon. The Chargers' defense intercepted Matthew Stafford on the first drive, only for their offense to lose three yards and punt it right back to the Rams. Chris O'Leary's unit held the Rams to 3 points off Herbert's first interception and forced three three-and-outs in the first five drives. The Chargers, desperate for points and momentum, kicked field goals on 4th & 3 from the 28-yard line and 4th & 3 from the 23-yard line to go up 9-3 before the Rams hit a big play to Tutu Atwell and scored a touchdown before the half. The Rams kicked two kickoffs short of the landing zone, giving the Chargers the ball on their own 40-yard line twice. They scored no points on those two drives, completing an improbable Hail Mary short of the goal line on the first one and going three-and-out on the second.

Defensive flashes

LA's defense continues to be the only reason to continue watching the Chargers. Tarheeb Still was rewarded for a season of fantastic play with that interception of Stafford in the first quarter. Safety Tony Jefferson had a strong game, leading the team in tackles and continuing a season-long pattern of standing ball carriers up short of the goal line or line to gain. Cornerback Isas Waxter, a practice squad elevation forced into action because of three injuries at corner, had two tackles for loss against Rams star receiver Puka Nacua. Tuli Tuipulotu got his third sack of the year and rookie Akheem Mesidor was frequently forcing Stafford to get rid of the ball quickly. Teair Tart also had a flashy play for a sack that was called back for defensive holding.

Run defense slips

27 carries for 129 yards and two touchdowns between Blake Corum and Kyren Williams is a fairly pedestrian performance for a Chargers run defense that entered the week 6th in the league in yards allowed. But lost in the final box score will be the fact that LA held the Rams to 5 carries for 10 yards in the first half, which included a 1-yard plunge from Williams to score the Rams' touchdown in the second quarter. With the offense unable to get anything going, however, and the Rams exerting their pressure as the game wore on, it felt like the defense got worn down and could not continue to bottle the two running backs up. Williams and Corum combined for 14 carries and 51 yards in the fourth quarter alone as the Rams salted the game away.