“No quit, no surrender.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh spoke those words Sunday after another listless showing, a 24-9 loss to the Rams that dropped them to 0-7. Naturally, he has to put the best spin possible on what’s long since become a lost season, a head-scratching mess that didn’t figure back in August.
Maybe, just maybe, the Chargers should just quit and surrender. That is to say, they should change it up big-time in an attempt to end their dismal run of football to start the season. After all, they have 10 games left, 10 chances to alter their nose-dive.
Here are a few radical suggestions for what remains of the 2026 season:
SIDELINE HERBERT
Sometimes baseball managers send a struggling starting pitcher to the bullpen to get him right again, taking some of the burden and expectations off his shoulders for a course correction. Sometimes hockey coaches scratch an unproductive player and sit him in the press box to study a game from high above the action.
Conventional wisdom suggests the Chargers’ best chance to win is with Justin Herbert at quarterback. But conventional wisdom might need to take a day off, and so might Herbert, who looks more like a confused high schooler than a polished, franchise-record holder.
Harbaugh discounted the idea after Sunday’s game, after Herbert threw for a season-best 257 yards but also tossed his ninth and 10th interceptions of the season, tops in the NFL. Herbert has looked like a square peg offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel tried to hammer into a round hole.
Herbert is healthy, for once, and maybe it’s best to keep him that way.
Protect the Chargers’ highest-paid and biggest investment.
So, let ex-St. John Bosco High standout DJ Uiagalelei play a game or two.
Or give Trey Lance a start if his nagging groin injury ever allows him to play again.
HAMPTON & JOHNSTON
Running back Omarion Hampton was the Chargers’ first-round draft pick in 2025. Johnston was their first-round selection in 2023. Neither is playing a role befitting a first-round pick, though. Hampton was GM Joe Hortiz’s second first-round pick after taking offensive lineman Joe Alt in 2024. Johnston was the final first-round selection in Tom Telesco’s tenure as GM.
Neither has been afforded the chance this season to start performing as a first-rounder would. Or should. Why? Harbaugh and McDaniel each explained that Hampton is best suited for a rotation role with Kimani Vidal and Keaton Mitchell. Johnston has been overshadowed by Ladd McConkey.
Hampton had nine carries against the Rams for 20 yards.
Johnston caught four passes on four targets for 37 yards.
Each player could use more work in the weeks ahead.
Time to make that happen.
TIME TO PUNT
Hortiz has too much Philadelphia, too much Baltimore in him to give up on the season. That’s not his style. It’s not anybody’s style who grew up personally or professionally in those hard-scrabble cities. But maybe, just maybe, it’s time to admit defeat and live to fight another day.
A sell-off before the Nov. 10 trade deadline probably isn’t in the cards, but maybe it should be. The Angels’ decision to hang onto Shohei Ohtani instead of trading him before he signed with the Dodgers as a free agent should be a cautionary tale for any general manager in any sport.
Trading Herbert isn’t an option, though. QBs like him don’t exactly grow on trees.
However, there’s no sense waiting for a do-over in January. Starting now makes sense.
“Trust the Process” has a catchy ring to it even if it’s a bit derivative.
See: Philadelphia, 76ers, rebuilding process.
MCDANIEL FACTOR
The pundits continue to call for McDaniel’s head. It seems unlikely that Hortiz or Harbaugh will give it to them, but perhaps there’s another solution. Maybe, just maybe, Herbert should call his own plays from here on out, assuming control in the huddle. Does any QB do that anymore?
Clearly, the Chargers’ offense is too complex, too filled with players in motion and all sorts of unnecessary things that make a layman sitting in the press box wonder what is going on down there. Keeping it simple should be the Chargers’ new mantra. Let Herbert draw up plays in the dirt.
It’s an exaggeration, of course.
The Chargers play most of their games on artificial turf.
WHAT COMES NEXT
The Chargers’ next three games are against the Houston Texans (2-5) on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, the Ravens (4-4) on Nov. 16 in Baltimore and the New York Jets (2-6) on Nov. 22 at home. See any victories in those three games? Yeah, maybe one or two possibilities.