The hype surrounding Mike McDaniel’s new offense was high entering the season, but the Chargers struggled to find consistency in Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals. With just 14 points, this offense has plenty to clean up moving forward.
There was a ton of excitement surrounding the Los Angeles Chargers offense heading into the 2026 season. Bringing in Mike McDaniel was supposed to give Justin Herbert and this offense a completely different identity. After what we saw throughout the offseason, there was plenty of reason to believe this could be one of the most exciting offenses in the NFL.
Then Sunday happened.
The Chargers fell to the Arizona Cardinals 26-14 in their season opener and while the defense and special teams certainly had their share of problems, the offense deserves plenty of criticism as well. For all of the hype surrounding McDaniel’s system, it left much to be desired in its first real test.
The offense showed some flashes early. The Chargers opened the game with a 77-yard drive and Herbert quickly found Ladd McConkey three times for 60 yards. Omarion Hampton eventually finished the drive with a physical touchdown run, showing exactly why there is so much excitement surrounding him.
Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t consistently build on that success.
Herbert finished the game completing 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He was also sacked three times. Those numbers aren’t terrible on their own, but they certainly aren’t what anyone expected from an offense that was supposed to take a major step forward under McDaniel.
The biggest issue was the lack of consistency. The Chargers moved the ball at times, but they struggled to finish drives and put points on the board. The fourth-and-goal situation in the second quarter was especially frustrating. Instead of coming away with points, Herbert was sacked for a 13-yard loss, completely killing what had been a promising drive.
There were also too many mistakes. The offense had opportunities to take control of the game but couldn’t capitalize. Omarion Hampton’s fumble cost the Chargers another possession and penalties continued to disrupt the rhythm of the offense.
That’s probably the biggest takeaway from Sunday. This offense didn’t look like a unit that was comfortable in its new system.
That shouldn’t necessarily come as a huge surprise. This is the first game of the season and McDaniel is installing an offense that is significantly different from what the Chargers have been running. There are going to be growing pains.
But expectations are also high for a reason.
The Chargers have Justin Herbert, Ladd McConkey, Omarion Hampton, Oronde Gadsden and plenty of other talented pieces. This offense was supposed to be one of the team’s biggest strengths. Instead, it managed just 14 points against a Cardinals team that won only three games last season.
One game doesn’t define McDaniel’s offense. There is plenty of time for this group to improve and figure things out.
But after all the hype surrounding the new system this offseason, there is no way around it: Sunday was a disappointing first impression.
The Chargers need to be much better offensively, and they need to show it quickly.
