History Favors...and Doesn’t Favor Chargers Climbing Out of 0-4 Hole

To date, Jim Harbaugh’s third season at the helm of the Los Angeles Chargers has been anything but charming. The Bolts dropped to 0-4 with a 30-23 road setback to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. Talk about digging yourself a hole? The Kansas City Chiefs (4-0), Las Vegas Raiders (3-1) and Denver Broncos (2-2) have combined for a 9-3 record and have one fewer loss than Harbaugh’s club.

The franchise has been down this road before—most recently in 2017 when Anthony Lynn’s club lost its first four games in what actually proved to be a 9-7 campaign.

Chargers made NFL history just over three decades ago

Of course, there was 1992. The then-San Diego Chargers brought in a new head coach in Bobby Ross—who had guided the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to a co-national championship in 1990. He had inherited a team which coach Dan Henning had led to a 4-12 finish. Ross’s club kicked off the year with a home loss to Marty Schottenheimer’s Chiefs. There would be three more setbacks. The Chargers were outscored a combined 95-29 during their 0-4 start.

Then the light came on. Ross’s team would win 11 of its final 12 games to finish 11-5 and capture the AFC West. The lone loss in those final 12 contests was a 16-14 defeat at the hand of the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. However, the Chargers would avenge both of those losses to Schottenheimer’s club with a 17-0 win at “The Murph” in the wild card round. The team’s season ended a week later with a 31-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.

Can Jim Harbaugh’s team reverse its 2026 misfortunes?

All told, the ’92 Chargers remain the only team to reach the playoffs after a 0-4 start. So what are the chances that history can repeat itself with Harbaugh’s troubled team this season?

The good news is that this time around, each conference sends seven teams to the playoffs instead of six. And each NFL team plays 17 games instead of 16 contests.

JUSTIN HERBERT THROWS HIS SECOND INTERCEPTION OF THE GAME 😬

That’s already his 6th pick of the season 🫣 pic.twitter.com/C54SZqe1RW
— BET99 Canada (@BET99CA) October 4, 2026

Now the bad news. The Chargers’ offense has produced seven touchdowns in four games, while Harbaugh’s squad has turned over the ball 10 times. Quarterback Justin Herbert, with seven of those turnovers, is completing only 59.7 percent of his passes, and has already been sacked a dozen times. Harbaugh’s club has trailed at halftime in three of its four games. The lone exception was the loss to the Bills in which the Bolts actually owned a 10-0 lead after one quarter.

Have too many changes this offseason resulted in a slow start?

Elsewhere, the team has lost its opportunistic touch. The Chargers forced 21 turnovers in Harbaugh’s first season and came up with 23 opponent miscues in 2025. This year, there’s been seven takeaways in four games—five of those in the 24-16 loss at Buffalo. Does the loss of defensive coordinator Jesse Minter play a role in the falloff?

So far, Herbert and new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel don’t seem to be on the same page. Simply put, it’s a team that seems like it’s waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

For now, the next thing is the rival Broncos and a clash at SoFi Stadium on Sunday. Does this team have the capability of making history repeat itself. All told, another home loss to a divisional rival and the Chargers could be history when it comes to being a significant factor this season.

Add us as a preferred source on Google