Chargers thrashed by Jaguars in worst loss of the Jim Harbaugh era

JACKSONVILLE, FL— The numbers don't lie. But sometimes NFL teams do.

That's why All-Pro security Derwin James Jr. believes the Chargers should be brutally honest in their handling of Sunday's events. loss with a score of 35-6 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the most lopsided defeat belonging Jim Harbaugh era.

The Jaguars collected 30 first downs, held the ball nearly 16 minutes longer and limited Justin Herbert to a career-low 81 yards passing.

Frankness comes.

“Sometimes you can lie when you want to protect the other side or protect a player,” James said, standing in the cramped, gloomy visitors' locker room. “But I feel like this team is very honest, very transparent, and no one has soft skin. So I feel like everyone can look in the mirror and we'll be honest.”

The Chargers came to Jacksonville having won four of five, while the Jaguars had lost three in a row. However, that was no indication of what was to come as Jacksonville dominated the line of scrimmage and the Chargers were as soft as they were on that warm day.

The Jaguars' defense, which entered the game with an NFL-low 12 sacks, became a pass rush tsunami that sacked Herbert twice and pressured him on nearly every dropback, sending him to the blue medical tent – albeit on a body slam with a roughing the passer – before the end of the first half.

“We just weren’t prepared,” Herbert said. “Never got into a rhythm or felt comfortable. It all starts with the run game, and we weren't able to do that today. It's up to me to work on those completions better, find easy ways to extend plays and convert on third down, which we didn't do a good job of today either. But yeah, we just weren't good today.”

In the second quarter, Herbert was checked for a concussion and cleared to return. With 11 minutes remaining and the Jaguars leading by 29 points, he and several other starters were ejected from the game.

“We got beat in every possible way,” Harbaugh said.

The loss was the worst of his NFL career, a 29-point loss to Seattle in 2012 while Harbaugh was coaching the San Francisco 49ers.

Part of it was all the offensive line issues that came home. In recent weeks, the Chargers have been able to disguise this by running a ground attack and Herbert quickly getting the ball out of his hands. The Chargers have had more than a dozen different line configurations this season.

They had a glimmer of hope when, shortly before the trade deadline, they… acquired lineman Trevor Penning from the New Orleans Saints. But Penning made his debut at left tackle on Sunday and won't add that game to his resume. And neither did any of his new teammates.

“It's not the easiest thing,” Chargers cornerback Zion Johnson said of the weekly and sometimes quarterly reconfigurations. “But I think there are guys in this room who are up for the challenge. We need to take a good look at the tape, see where we can improve technique and where we can improve the level of execution.”

Jacksonville was the scene of the crime where three years ago the Chargers blew a 27 point lead in the first round of the playoffs against the Jaguars.

James, who was a member of that team, said it may have been a little extra salt in Sunday's wound, but: “I hate losing, period.”

Now is the time to do so as the Chargers have a week off before resuming play on Nov. 30 at home against the Raiders.

From the players' point of view, a week off is both a benefit and a burden.

“It's not easy to get through the bye week after a loss,” Johnson said. “You don't have a way to get that sour taste out of your mouth. But it at least gives us a chance to look at the tape, look at the last few weeks and the season as a whole and see where we are and where we can improve both offensively and as a football team.”

The 29-point loss was the Chargers' worst since a 63-21 rout of the Raiders on Dec. 14, 2023.

On Sunday, the Jaguars rushed for 192 yards to the Chargers' 42 and won 345-135 overall.

And this was a week after the Chargers defense stifled Pittsburgh and the Steelers went 0-for-9 on third down until garbage time came.

At the Everbank Stadium this defense was nowhere to be seen.

“You want to get off the field because they’re in a four-minute offense,” James said. “Once they get to a three-possession lead, you know they're trying to just run the clock. We can't let people play like that.”

Chargers running back Kimani Vidal, released from the practice squad earlier this season after the team's top two running backs were injured, spent most of the first half on the sidelines with a leg injury. The Chargers promoted two more running backs from the practice squad to play behind him.

“We just weren't doing anything good offensively,” Harbaugh said. “We didn't run the ball well. We didn't defend. We didn't get open. And defensively it's the same thing – we didn't stop the run, we lost coverage. Go through every phase – we got hit in every way possible.

“We weren't as physical as we should have been. We'll get through it now and figure out what we're going to do about it.”

Now it's time to look in the mirror.

The truth hurts. For the Chargers, it hurts more.