At the beginning of the season, everyone bought into the Chargers’ hype. I don’t think that’s the case anymore. The Chargers started 4-1 and now they stand at 5-4 and in the middle of the AFC. What the heck happened?
Chargers’ Hype Overrated to Begin With?
I don’t think the hype was overrated to begin with. Justin Herbert is reigning rookie of the year, the defense got Derwin James back, and Brandon Staley became coach. Everything looked great for the Chargers going into the season.
The defense surprisingly took a step back. The run defense continues to be gouged each and every week. No one saw that coming into this season. Meanwhile, Brandon Staley has up-and-down games as a rookie head coach. His over-aggressiveness on fourth down is sometimes over-zealous with the Chargers only converting 64% of the time. But let’s look at the big man himself, Justin Herbert
Justin Herbert Sophomore Slump
I wouldn’t say the Chargers’ Hype is dead because of Justin Herbert, but it’s certainly not helping. Per Pro Football Reference, Justin Herbert statistically regresses in every category in ugly fashion whenever the Chargers lose. When they lose, Herbert’s completion percentage often drops to mid-50% range. And in each of their four losses, Herbert threw at least one interception.
Sophomore slumps for quarterbacks are very common, and it looks like Justin Herbert is having one. It’s not the end of the world, and I’m sure everything will be fine. Herbert isn’t terrible this year, but he’s just having more “off” games this year than he did last year.
The thing that concerns me this year is that the Chargers have lost to teams that are potential playoff contenders like Dallas, New England, Minnesota, and Baltimore. They’ve lost most of these games in the past month, and their schedule doesn’t get much easier either.
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