5 Things Chargers Can Learn From Loss

As the Chargers recover from Sunday’s awful loss to the Miami Dolphins – and frankly, anyone who watched that game needs some recovery time – let’s look at what they can learn from their first shutout loss in 15 years. Here are five things the Bolts need to do going forward:

Get back in the trenches: How many times did the offensive front get pushed back? Yes, this is a line depleted with injuries. That’s no excuse for rushing 19 times for just 50 yards (2.6 yards per carry) and giving up four sacks. On the other side of the ball, Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill stayed upright the entire day, was rarely pressured and had plenty of room to run when he was.

Put points on the board early: It’s hard to second-guess Chargers coach Mike McCoy (just ask him). But a lot of talk following the game came from the first drive, when the Chargers went for it on fourth down and 1 at the Dolphins 22 instead of kicking a field goal. It’s hard to imagine that the team wouldn’t reach the red zone the rest of the game. And you gotta love the faith the coach has in his team, but you also need to get some points out of that drive.

Get the D off the field: While the Chargers were busy failing to convert a third down pretty much all day (just one after that first drive), it seemed the defense was giving up first downs on every drive. On the day, Miami converted 8-of-14 third downs, including a pair or touchdowns and a 50-yard gain on third-and-6 in the second quarter.

“Defensively, we didn’t make enough stops at critical times in the game, for one reason or another,” McCoy said.

Hold on to the ball: Coming into Sunday, the Chargers had just five turnovers on the year. Quarterback Philip Rivers quickly changed that, throwing three interceptions and fumbling away another possession.

It was uncharacteristic for Rivers to be that clumsy with the football, but it’s a sign of bad things when he is. This season, he’s thrown 14 touchdowns to just one interception in the team’s five wins, while throwing just six TDs to seven picks in their losses.

“Anytime you turn the ball over four times in this league, it’s going to be tough to win any football games,” McCoy said. “We’ve got to do a better job offensively of protecting the football.

Don’t get down: The coaching staff has preached all season that it’s just one game – both in wins and losses. They’ll have to press hard to get the team to believe that after Sunday. Still, they have a week to regroup, have the lowly Raiders coming to town after that, and are still in fairly good shape for a playoff berth. That’s assuming they can correct the mistakes above.

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