Former NFL head coach accuses Chargers of being pretenders

The Los Angeles Chargers still need to convince many that they are a serious playoff threat this year.

For some, the Chargers have yet to escape the pretender category as a team seemingly in Year 1 of a rebuild around Jim Harbaugh.

Count former head coach Jay Gruden as one of those guys not ready to pronounce Harbaugh’s Chargers as contenders.

Appearing on Underdog Fantasy's Clean Pocket podcast, Gruden saluted the elite defense but said the Chargers don’t have the talent to beat the good teams.

"They really haven't beat anybody," Gruden said. "So it's really hard to tell. Now you got to play the teams on your schedule, I get it, [but] that's my biggest concern. Obviously, Harbaugh's done a great job. They have an elite quarterback, in my opinion, [in] Justin Herbert. They can run the ball, but losing JK Dobbins hurts. They just don't have any go-to receivers. I think they're pretenders, right now, [and] until they get some help for Justin Herbert on the outside, other than Ladd McConkey, I think they're going to be pretenders for a while."

It’s not a secret the Chargers need to put better talent around Justin Herbert at skill positions like tight end and wideout.

But the idea the Chargers can’t win playoff games now against great teams is a little silly—they played the Baltimore Ravens close and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs twice by a combined nine points.

This isn’t uncommon, though, as the Grudens don’t appear to like the Chargers very much this year—Jon Gruden shared similar ideas about the Chargers not all that long ago.

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