Chargers Could Learn Things From Packers' Continued Efforts to Save Season

The Chargers and Packers have serious roster problems. Only one of those teams is doing something about them.

Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Los Angeles Chargers and Green Bay Packers are alike in suffering serious offensive line struggles. 

But the Chargers and Packers are not alike in actually addressing the problems. 

Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers, as expected, are happy to sit on their hands and trot out a miserable interior offensive line in front of star quarterback Justin Herbert. 

The Packers, on the other hand, got to work this week in tackling the issue by signing Kevin Zeitler, one of the best outright free agents left on the market. 

Field Yates of ESPN put it best about the Packers’ move: “I can’t recall an offensive line overhaul like this, this early in the season. All the offseason’s concerns about the Green Bay offensive line were spot on.”

The parallels are hard to ignore. Serious concerns about the interior of the Chargers offensive line chased them into the season, too. But unlike the Packers, the foregone conclusion is that Harbaugh’s club simply won’t do anything about it. 

Chargers needed to act like Packers about offensive line woes

Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Nobody is saying the Chargers needed to go get Zeitler in free agency, specifically. 

But Chargers general manager Joe Hortiz still has nearly $28 million in free cap space, never mind a boatload of draft assets and the ability to work the waiver wire or sign players off practice squads around the NFL. 

Instead, the obviously middling signing of Cole Strange at right guard will continue to be the move for Herbert’s offense. And with journeyman Kayode Awosika now hurt, they will once again turn to first-round bust Trevor Penning at left guard. 

This, while second-round rookie Jake Slaughter continues to undergo a trial by fire at center in the aftermath of the Tyler Biadasz injury. 

Yes, an outside offensive lineman would need time to get to town and learn the system. And yes, consistency on the field together is key to an entire line’s quality of play. 

But this is almost more about the signals sent by a franchise than anything else. The Packers are trying. The Chargers signed one solid center, two mediocre guards, drafted a center to play guard and overall used four of eight draft picks on offensive linemen before pretending that was good enough when it obviously wasn’t. 

So now, the Chargers are left with the same old problems, but plenty of assets for the future. It’s a cloudy future, though, given the 0-3 hole and the disaster of a Mike McDaniel situation. The Packers and hopeful contenders like them, though, could be big rebound stories well into the winter. 

Sign Up For the Chargers Daily Digest - OnSI’s Free Los Angeles Chargers Newsletter