Sitting at a brutal 0-6, the Chargers managed to hand fans another letdown over the bye when they revealed that offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel still has play-calling rights, let alone getting fired during the bye week.
Jim Harbaugh has been saying there needs to be some change offensively week in and week out, but that change has nowhere even reflected in any play so far. The Bolts are praying it changes this week, and the update coming out of the Chargers building gave them a sliver of hope on Friday.
As they prepare to take on their big brothers, the Los Angeles Rams, to come out of their bye, McDaniel revealed the prep that went behind the scenes in Week 7.
Mike McDaniel Watched 4 Hours of Film With Justin Herbert
On Thursday, McDaniel revealed that he watched film with Herbert for four hours last week — a pair of two-hour sessions split over two days in an effort to “find spots to build on and spots to improve.”
“There wasn’t really necessarily as much of a bye week because there were some problems to solve,” McDaniel said.
“McDaniel noted there was an even split of 50-50 dialogue between the two, with a focus on ‘mutual accountability’, per Eric Smith of Chargers.com.
That comes after Justin Herbert went out of his way to defend his offensive coordinator, instead of taking the blame on himself and his own unit.
“It’s not his fault. It’s our fault as an offense. We have to do our job, and it’s not Mike’s fault,” Herbert said. “Guys are open, and plays aren’t being made; it’s on us to run, to block, to catch, to throw. It’s on us as an offense.”
“McDaniel said the meetings were beneficial considering they don’t have time during a normal game week to dive as deep into the film,” Smith added.
“Just being able to meet with him, talk with him. I thought it was a useful bye,” Herbert said.
Can it Change Anything?
As for the bye, right guard Cole Strange said McDaniel showed positive film clips to the unit to try and inspire some confidence in the group.
Strange admitted that the clips help inspire confidence, and that the team is still carrying the move-forward mindset.
“He had cut-ups with plays trying to get us with some momentum and some energy going in that direction of, ‘Yeah, we’ve done good stuff.’ We just got to put it together and whittle out the bad,” Strange said. “Let that kind of inspire a little bit of confidence and don’t think so much about what could go wrong. Move forward and just focus on what you’re going to do well.”
Inspiration or not, the Chargers need to stop talking and start putting numbers on the board. Fixing these immediate offensive struggles is the absolute baseline right now, because actual winning still feels miles away.
Looking back at a 0-6 tape isn’t going to offer much inspiration to begin with, but coming out of a 15-day bye week without fixing a broken offense would take this mess to a whole new level of embarrassment.
Chargers Reveal Key Bye Week Fixes After Stubborn Mike McDaniel Decision