When the Los Angeles Chargers hired Mike McDaniel in January, the move was widely celebrated as a coup for a franchise that had spent two years watching Justin Herbert’s talent get boxed in by a rigid offense.

Eight weeks into the season, the honeymoon is long over as the Chargers sit 0-7, rank last in the league at 14.1 points per game, and have gone 27 straight possessions without reaching the end zone.

On Thursday, McDaniel announced that he is changing where he works on game days, moving from the sideline to the coaches’ booth starting Sunday against the Houston Texans.

The switch is not a demotion. McDaniel will keep calling plays, and he said Jim Harbaugh signed off on the idea, which fits the head coach’s steady public support for his coordinator.

Harbaugh spent the Week 7 bye self-scouting the offense and came out of it saying he was still very confident in McDaniel’s talent and work ethic. He kept him in the role even as speculation grew that passing game coordinator Shane Day could take over the call sheet.

McDaniel described the booth as more like watching film, a place where he can see coverages develop and spot problems between series, rather than piecing them together from the ground.

He has done it before, having called plays from upstairs during his lone season as the 49ers’ offensive coordinator in 2021, and he pointed to Kyle Shanahan, who worked from the booth during their time together in Atlanta.

The cost, McDaniel said, is losing face-to-face contact with his players on the sideline, though he expressed confidence that his position coaches can set the tone and handle that communication in his absence.

He also brushed off the idea that the move is about saving his reputation, saying his problem-solving does not come from insecurity.

The numbers explain why a coordinator would look for anything that gives him a clearer picture. Before the bye, the Chargers managed just six points and 259 yards in a loss to Kansas City, and the offense has sat at or near the bottom of the league in expected points added per play for most of the season.

Critics have also pointed to predictability, arguing that McDaniel’s personnel groupings have sometimes revealed where a run is headed before the snap.

That is exactly the kind of tendency that is easier to diagnose from above than from the sideline.

Herbert has stood behind his coordinator, putting the blame on the players for failing to execute when receivers are open and the right plays are being called.

Still, the patience in Los Angeles has limits. A better view of the field will not fix missed blocks or dropped passes on its own, and McDaniel knows the results against Houston and beyond will decide whether this is remembered as the adjustment that saved the season or the last change he got to make.