The Chargers are off to a disastrous 0-2 start after another ugly loss, this time to the Raiders. With a difficult schedule ahead, Los Angeles needed to take advantage of its soft opening. Instead, the Chargers look completely out of sorts.
There really isn’t any other way to put it. The Los Angeles Chargers have been an embarrassment through the first two weeks of the 2026 season.
Coming into the year, everyone knew the Chargers had a difficult stretch coming up. After the Raiders, they have to travel to Buffalo and Seattle before facing a tough stretch of games that could quickly make things difficult. That made the first two games of the season incredibly important.
Instead of taking advantage of a favorable opening schedule, the Chargers are now 0-2 after losing to the Raiders 26-14 at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
And it’s not just that they lost. It’s the way they have lost.
The Chargers have scored just 28 points in their first two games while allowing 52. Both games have ended with the exact same score, 26-14, and both have featured an offense that struggled to consistently move the football.
Against the Raiders, Justin Herbert finished with just 192 passing yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. The Chargers also turned the ball over at a critical point when Omarion Hampton fumbled late in the fourth quarter, allowing Las Vegas to turn the mistake into a touchdown that essentially put the game away.
There were mistakes everywhere.
The offense couldn’t find consistency. The defense allowed Kirk Cousins to throw three touchdown passes. The Chargers committed costly penalties, including a holding penalty in the end zone that resulted in a safety. David Njoku also left the game with a knee injury, adding another concern to an already banged-up offense.
This is not what anyone expected from a team that made significant changes during the offseason.
Mike McDaniel was brought in to modernize the offense and get more out of Herbert and this group. Through two games, though, the offense looks completely out of sorts. There are too many stalled drives, too many mistakes and not enough consistency.
The frustrating part is that the Chargers had a chance to make things much easier on themselves.
Going 2-0 against Arizona and Las Vegas would have given this team some breathing room before heading into the tougher portion of the schedule. Instead, they are 0-2 and already have their backs against the wall.
That doesn’t mean the season is over. There are still 15 games left to play. But the Chargers have put themselves in a position where they can’t afford to keep playing like this.
The margin for error is getting smaller with every week.
If the Chargers don’t figure things out quickly, they could find themselves in a deep hole before the season even really gets started. Right now, this team doesn’t look like a team that is ready for the difficult schedule ahead.
And after two weeks, that’s the most embarrassing part of all.
