Fire Mike McDaniel: The Chargers Handed a Generational Quarterback a Speed Offense With No Speed
Two straight 11-6 seasons have turned into 0-6. Justin Herbert isn't the problem. A coordinator whose system needs burners, and owners who wouldn't pay for any, are.
By Todd "The Truth Hurts" Sports, New London Media Staff Writer
Published
The Los Angeles Chargers went 11-6 in 2024. They went 11-6 again in 2025. Two winning seasons, two trips to the playoffs, and a franchise quarterback in his prime. Then the Chargers brought in Mike McDaniel to run the offense, and the bottom fell out.
Six games into 2026, the Chargers are 0-6. Sunday's 22-6 loss in Kansas City was their ninth straight loss dating back to last season, and the offense never found the end zone - two field goals, three points a half. Through six games this team has scored 90 points, 15 a game. That is not a slump. That is a system that does not fit the players running it.
The offense McDaniel knows
McDaniel spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and his offense there was built on one thing: speed. Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle were two of the fastest receivers in football, and Tua Tagovailoa got the ball out quickly so they could do the rest. Get it to the burners in space and let them run. When it worked, it was electric. When the speed wasn't on the field, it fell apart. Miami went 7-10 last season, missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, and fired him in January. He left Miami 35-33, with two first-round playoff exits.
The Chargers hired him weeks later to coordinate an offense that has none of what made his Miami offense go.
The roster the owners wouldn't buy
A quick-hit speed scheme needs speed. The Chargers didn't go get any. They walked into the 2026 offseason with somewhere between $85 million and $110 million in salary cap space. ESPN's description of what they did with it says it all: for the second straight offseason, general manager Joe Hortiz "again was frugal," handing out low-cost deals mostly to depth players. Veteran receiver Keenan Allen was allowed to walk into free agency, and nobody of his caliber came back the other way.
The result showed up in Kansas City. The Chargers' leading receiver finished with 57 yards - all of it on one catch.
That is on the Spanos family. You do not hire a coordinator whose entire playbook runs on elite speed, sit on one of the biggest piles of cap space in the league, and then act surprised when the offense can't move. The Chargers are trying to buy a championship on the cheap, and the bill so far is 0-6.
Justin Herbert is not the problem
Herbert has been sacked 21 times in six games. He has thrown eight interceptions - and a quarterback who is under siege, throwing to receivers who can't separate, in a system built for someone else's weapons, is going to force throws. Put him in the right offense and he is the same player who was the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year and threw for more than 5,000 yards in his second season.
Look at what he has been asked to absorb. Since the Chargers drafted him in 2020, Herbert has played for three head coaches - Anthony Lynn, Brandon Staley and Jim Harbaugh - plus an interim at the end of 2023. He is on his fifth offensive coordinator in seven seasons: Shane Steichen, Joe Lombardi, Kellen Moore, Greg Roman, and now McDaniel. Every one of them brought a new playbook, a new language and a new set of reads. Few quarterbacks in the league have been handed more change and asked to win anyway.
The fix
Jim Harbaugh said after the Kansas City loss, "We have to address everything, and especially offensively." Start at the top of the offense. Fire Mike McDaniel. Reports already say his job is hanging by a thread, with pass game specialist Adam Gase - another former Dolphins head coach - mentioned as the next man up. The Chargers should aim higher than that. They need a coordinator who builds the offense around Herbert's arm, not around speed the roster doesn't have.
And the owners need to open the checkbook. A generational quarterback deserves real weapons, a line that keeps him upright, and a coordinator who stays long enough to learn his reads. Until the Spanos family pays for that, the Chargers will keep wasting the best thing they have.
The truth hurts. Right now it's hurting Justin Herbert most of all.
Sources: NFL.com, Yahoo Sports, ESPN, Fox Sports, AP.
Source: New London Media
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