After Los Angeles struggled in their season opener, Harbaugh admitted he wishes his starters had received more preseason reps
The Los Angeles Chargers entered the 2026 season with high expectations, but their season opener against the Arizona Cardinals quickly showed that expectations and execution are two very different stories.
The Bolts fell 26-14 at home, struggling to find consistency offensively while making several mistakes that ultimately contributed to an ugly opening-week loss. Following the game, head coach Jim Harbaugh was willing to acknowledge that some of those issues may have been preventable.
In retrospect, Harbaugh wishes he had played his starters more during the preseason.
“We made some preseason-type mistakes,” Harbaugh said Monday. “ Now I wish we played our starters more in the preseason to give them some game reps.”
The Chargers did give their starters some preseason action, but it was limited. Justin Herbert and the first-team offense saw only opening drive action.
At the time, that approach made sense.
The preseason has increasingly become about protecting star players and keeping them healthy for when the games matter, while evaluating position battles and giving young players opportunities. Teams don't want to risk losing an important starter to a meaningless snap.
But Week 1 can serve as a reminder of the other side of that equation.
There is simply no substitute for live-game reps.
The Chargers' offense looked out of sync against Arizona, and while it would be unfair to blame the loss entirely on limited preseason action, Harbaugh's comments suggest the lack of reps may have contributed to some of the early-season sloppiness.
And Los Angeles wasn't necessarily alone.
Around the league, Week 1 provided plenty of examples of teams struggling with execution, timing and communication. Opening week once again raised questions about whether teams have gone too far in limiting their starters during the preseason.
That could lead to a change next season.
That doesn't mean teams suddenly need to play their stars for entire games. However, a few additional series could be enough to get starting offenses and defenses comfortable with live-game situations before the games actually count.
For Harbaugh and the Chargers, unfortunately, that realization came after the season opener.
Now, Los Angeles has to clean up those mistakes with the motivated Las Vegas Raiders up next.
Ultimately, the Chargers have to learn from what happened against Arizona. Harbaugh believes additional preseason reps could have helped prepare his guys, and now Los Angeles will have to hope the mistakes from Week 1 become valuable lessons as the team looks to get back on track against a team that had a promising season opener.
