Hey there, I'm Rachel Nichols, and this is the story.
Today we have a bit of a special episode for you.
We're going even deeper behind the scores to really peel back what's going on with two flailing NFL teams and what their issues are really about.
And I want to start with the Los Angeles Chargers who Just had their bye week, which, hey, makes it the first week all season.
They didn't lose a game.
Remember, this was supposed to be a playoff team before the season, the betting market set the Chargers win total at 9.5. I mean, our own Connor Orr at SI picked them to go 11 and 6 and win the AFC West.
Of course, a lot of that optimism was centered squarely on the idea that the team had finally found the right offense for Justin Herbert.
Jim Harbaugh fired offensive coordinator Greg Romman and instead installed Mike McDaniel, who, despite his issues in Miami, was still considered an offensive wonderki.
Well, we have seen how that has turned out.
The Chargers' 0-6 start is the worst this team has suffered in more than a quarter of a century.
It's been such a long time, in fact, that the last time things were this bad, Jim Harbaugh was actually one of the quarterbacks on the team's roster.
So, mm, not good.
Has it really all been McDaniel's fault though?
Just look at where this offense breaks down.
The Chargers are averaging a meager 15 points a game.
That's 30th in the league.
They've topped 17 points exactly once.
Herbert has 8 interceptions with at least 1 in every single outing so far, and this offense has been at its.
Worst exactly when it matters most.
In Buffalo, the Chargers led 13-10 in the fourth quarter and Herbert threw an interception at the goal line against Denver.
They led 17-10 in the fourth.
Then later, Herbert lost a fumble and threw an interception on back to back drives.
And in Kansas City, they had first and goal from the one-yard line and walked away with a field goal.
Now there have been.
Injuries to this unit, the Chargers' new starting center tore his ACL in training camp, and both of their star tackles, Rashaw Slater and Joe Alt, went down in the same game in Seattle.
And so now the Chargers have started 4 rookies on the offensive line in each of the last 2 games.
I get it.
That's a big deal.
But they were 0-3 with Slater and Ault both on the field, and Herbert had already thrown 4 interceptions by then.
The losing started before the line fell apart.
Some of this could be about the way that McDaniel approached Herbert this past offseason.
He didn't just bring a new playbook , he changed the way Herbert stance.
For 6 NFL seasons, Herbert, who throws right-handed, lined up in the shotgun with his right foot forward, which is of course what most right-handed quarterbacks do.
McDaniel had him switched to his left foot so he could get the ball out faster on the quick short throws this offense is built on and let his receivers run after the catch.
Herbert spent parts.
This spring, not throwing the football at all.
He was drilling the new footwork with a big green ball, his backups taking the throws in practice.
McDaniels said at the time he was trying to find ways to improve in the margins, including speeding up Herbert's release time.
Well, 6 games in, the margins are going the wrong way.
Through 5 weeks, Pro Football Focus had Herbert holding the ball almost 3 seconds on average.
That's longer than Tua did for McDaniel in Miami.
IFF also tracks what it calls turnover worthy plays, basically throws and fumbles that should cost you the ball, and Herbert's rate is sky high, 6.7%. For contacts, the only quarterback since 2016 with a higher rate that early in the season was Carson Palmer.
And you can also compare that to Herbert's first six seasons when that number never got above 2.6%. And yet PFF still has Herbert's accuracy tied for 10th in the league.
So the arm is fine.
What changed is the offense around it.
So is there a way for things to get better from here for LA?
This team does have a decent defense to build on against Buffalo.
That unit forced 5 turnovers.
And after a bye week where Harbaugh said the team looked at everything, I'm hoping to see some offensive scheme changes too.
For the moment, that doesn't mean swapping out McDaniel.
He is keeping his job, but he has to do it differently, full stop, or he does have to be removed.
After all, Harbaugh spent all spring making sure his quarterback put his best foot forward.
Now he has to decide how long he's willing to keep standing on the wrong one.
All right, let's now get to the Washington Commanders, another team that just spent their bye week trying to figure out what has gone wrong.
Well guys, I can save them some time.
The biggest problem in DC is the coaching staff, from its calls on game day to what it has done with quarterback Jaden Daniels.
Now, if you haven't been keeping track, if you're not a diehard Commanders fan like me and you haven't been suffering, Washington is 14-1, and counting last season, the Commanders have won just 6 of their last 23 games.
That is such a long way from 2024 when Jaden was Offensive Rookie of the Year, and this team made it to the NFC championship game.
So what has really been happening?
Let's start with game day.
As you may remember, against the Giants, Washington had the ball at the 24 in overtime with 50 seconds left, close enough to win it with a field goal.
Instead, the staff sent in new players.
The ball wasn't snapped until 12 seconds were left, and the clock ran out on a 27 all tie.
Head coach Dan Quinn took a tremendous amount of heat that week, and he promised to do better, except the next week in San Francisco, Washington went for it on 4th and 2 in a situation they should not have gone for it on 4th and 2, and a viral sideline clip seemed to show Quinn's surprised it was even 4th down.
Now he insists he did in fact know, but when the head coach has to tell reporters he knew what down.
It was, it's not been a great month.
And some of the coaching staff's calls have hurt Jaden.
And I mean that literally.
Last November with Washington down 38 to 7 to Seattle and less than 8 minutes left, Jaden was still in the game when he scrambled, got tackled, and dislocated his left elbow.
Quinn said the next day, I missed it.
This September in Dallas with 3 seconds left in the first half and the ball on the 1, Quinn passed on a chip shot field goal to take 1 more shot at the end zone.
Now Jaden's own guard stepped on his foot and the elbow came out again, and that part was bad luck.
I, I get it.
And Quinn says he doesn't regret the call, but that is twice in less than a year that his franchise.
Beck's elbow has come out in a spot his coach did not need to put him in.
And then there is development.
You know, Jaden missed a lot of the 2025 season hurt.
But even with that mitigating factor, the commander still decided to part ways with offensive coordinator Cliff Kingsbury, a coach that Jaden said he loved working with.
Quinn promoted instead David.
Blau, who at 30 years old, had just 2 years of coaching experience.
6 games in, Jaden says it's the pre-snap penalties that are the stuff that's killing us, and that is a literal sign of inexperience.
And while some of it is definitely on Jaden and the other players on the field, the discipline of that unit is definitely on the coaching staff.
Of course, just like with so many teams around the league , injuries are a factor here.
Left tackle Laremy Tunsil tore his triceps in August and hasn't played a game, and top receiver Terry McLaurin is done for the year with a torn patellar tendon.
Daniels has only played start to finish in 3 games, and look at them.
A 2 point loss in Philadelphia, the tie to New York, and a 6 point loss in San Francisco.
So this roster can hang around, but when games get tight, the sideline keeps making them harder.
The good news for Quinn is that he coaches in the NFC East, where every team is a bit of a mess.
The Giants are without injured quarterback Jackson Dart.
Philadelphia is, of course, without Jalen Hurts.
Dallas has been unsteady too.
So as bad as things have been, the top of that division is wildly not out of reach.
But the commanders better start climbing now, otherwise you can see wholesale changes coming to Washington's coaching staff this season, or maybe even sooner.
After all, the games may end, but the stories don't.
I'm Rachel Nichols.
Thanks for watching this story right here at Sports Illustrated.
See you next time.