The Harbaugh Honeymoon Is Over in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Chargers are 0-4 for the first time since 2017, and Jim Harbaugh has to answer the question every NFL coach eventually faces: What happens when the plan stops working?

It likely starts with the plan itself. Harbaugh's big offseason swing was bringing in Mike McDaniel to run the offense, a move that was supposed to unlock Herbert's best version.

Instead, Herbert has six interceptions and four touchdowns, and the offense spent the first three weeks stuck on 16 points like a broken scoreboard.

Sunday against Seattle opened with an interception on the first play from scrimmage. By halftime, Herbert had completed five passes for 36 yards. 

Harbaugh has stood firmly behind McDaniel. Loyalty is admirable, but it carries a cost. When a head coach refuses to point the finger at his staff, the finger eventually points back at him.

The other side of the ball hasn't bailed him out either. Losing Jesse Minter to Baltimore's head coaching job stripped away the identity of a defense that carried this team the past two years.

The Chargers dropped their first two home games, both 26-14 losses to Arizona and Las Vegas, two teams that weren't supposed to be speed bumps, let alone roadblocks.

And in the fourth quarter, when Harbaugh teams are supposed to be at their nastiest, the Chargers were outscored 33-3 through three games. 

Now look at the calendar. Denver comes to town next. Then it's Kansas City on the road. Then bye.

It's not hard to picture this team sitting at 0-6 with two weeks of nothing to do but listen to the noise. Bye weeks are when organizations take inventory, and a 0-6 inventory is an ugly read.

To be fair, nobody should expect Harbaugh to be packing boxes in October. He won 11 games in each of his first two seasons, and he's only in the third year of a five-year contract.

His track record everywhere he's coached buys him patience that most coaches never get.

But patience isn't unlimited, and the résumé here has a hole. Both of those 11-win seasons ended in the Wild Card round.

Harbaugh was brought to Los Angeles to win in January, not just get there. Now he's rebuilt his staff, kept the franchise quarterback, and produced the worst start of Herbert's career.

The seat may not be on fire yet. But it's warm, and the next two Sundays could turn up the heat fast.