Searching for Answers: Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh Expresses Regret

The Chargers dropped their first game of the season in ugly fashion to the Cardinals. See what Jim Harbaugh wishes he had done differently.

Sep 13, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh stands on the field with offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium.at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: William Liang-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Los Angeles Chargers dropped the first game of the season to a scrappy Arizona Cardinals team and potentially lost their best offensive weapon in the process. The loss to Arizona wasn't devastating, the manner in which the Chargers played in a losing effort was.

Head coach Jim Harbaugh was left searching for answers after the game and the next day when he met with the media on Monday. Sunday's opener against the Cardinals was supposed to be the exciting debut of the a new revamped offense under Mike McDaniel with quarterback Justin Herbert firing the ball all over the field and running back Omarion Hampton bruising towards a breakout sophomore season.

As legendary heavyweight boxer Mike Tyson said, "Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth." The Chargers had a plan, the offense showed glimpses of their capabilities when they quickly marched down the field and answered Arizona's opening-drive touchdown.

The defense struggled to find their footing and the Cardinals kept them on the field for what felt like an eternity, ultimately owning the time-of-possession battle 37.5 minutes to the Chargers' 22.5. When Omarion Hampton lost a fumble after colliding into the back of his own blocker, the Chargers got punched in the face and it felt like the entire team was on wobbly legs the rest of the game.

The loss was highlighted by miscues, procedural penalties, miscommunication and awful special teams play leading to a blocked punt in the shadow of their own goalpost and league worst kick return results. The questions that Jim Harbaugh and the coaching staff had to answer all related to how unprepared and flat the team looked in their opening game.

Monday, at his press conference, Harbaugh tried to highlight the positives to build on. He also expressed regret. The starting offense had only a handful of snaps across two preseason games to work with each other in a real game. Cole Strange got the most snaps of any non-rookie starting member of the offense, he finished the preseason with 13 total snaps. Most of the other offensive players had fewer than seven.

Jim Harbaugh reflected on the lack of preseason run the starters received and said "Now, in retrospect, wish we played our guys a little more in the preseason and give them those reps." The Chargers brought in Mike McDaniel to revamp and revitalize the offense, unfortunately, McDaniel's offense is very complex with a high volume of moving parts that require time on task to master.

The procedural penalties were the most glaring indicator that the offense has not been mastered yet. When did the penalties occur? When the game started wearing on and players, playing in their first game, started getting tired.

One of the biggest examples of the lack of mastery came on the infamous sack that Justin Herbert took, where it appeared the offensive line was lost and allowed two free rushers to fly through instantly to hit Herbert. Several former NFL players, including Jason Kelce and Geoff Schwartz, took to social media to explain what happened and why it was actually not the fault of the offensive line.

Lots of chatter about the Chargers offensive line being wrong on a Herbert sack.
The video shows a different conclusion. It's on Herbert and/or the scheme. He's got to change the protection or have an answer. Check it out. 🥄 pic.twitter.com/lPMJghD6e9

— Geoff Schwartz (@geoffschwartz) September 14, 2026

Schwartz breaks down the protection plan and shows how the line was supposed to block in an empty set, after Keaton Mitchell is motioned out. Jim Harbaugh clarified this play as well on Monday. Schwartz is completely correct that line did their job and the answer was for Justin Herbert to hit the hot receiver instantly to avoid the pressure.

The problem on this play was that the hot receiver ran the wrong route based on the leverage of the linebacker in coverage. Herbert was left with nowhere to throw the ball. The lack of experience in the offense showed with the result. Tre Harris was the receiver who broke in toward the linebacker, instead of breaking out and Herbert chose to hold the ball instead of risking throwing the ball into the dirt at the receiver's feet. Both may have been different if they were more comfortable in the offense.

The Chargers have to clean this up immediately. They can not fall to 0-2 on the season with a loss to the Raiders. They begin a historically challenging stretch of games starting with the Las Vegas Raiders this coming Sunday. An 0-2 hole would be extremely difficult to climb out of.