What Worked for the Chargers Offense in Week 8 Win

Whether Ekeler was still hurting the last two weeks from his injury or they just weren’t designing plays for him, the offense clearly works better when he is being utilized properly – which includes being a safety valve in the passing game and creating some screens for him. It’s telling that in both of the two games where has 100+ yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, the Chargers have scored at least 30. In other words, get Ekeler the ball and good things happen.

Chargers Backup Pass-Catchers Shine

The final aspect here was the ball being successfully spread around a little more than before. Keenan Allen got double-covered a fair portion of the night, Josh Palmer was playing somewhat hurt, and Gerald Everett was out. The result was more targets and catches for other/backup Chargers receivers (though Allen still got eight catches anyway because you can only keep him down for so long)

Most notably, Quentin Johnston finally became a part of the passing game, finishing with five catches for 50 yards. We got to see the after-the-catch ability that he was drafted for on one of those plays, but he also made a couple of good catches near the sidelines. If Herbert continues to look his way more often with success, that will make the Chargers offense more difficult to stop.

Notably, Simi Fehoko of all people caught a nine-yard touchdown as well. That was his only catch; he dropped his only other target. Still, it is good to see another name making a big play for the Chargers. Donald Parham did predictably good as the TE1 as well, catching four passes for 43 yards and a touchdown and doing what he does best – using his ridiculous height and strength to make plays.

Still Room for Improvement

It wasn’t a perfect outing for the Chargers. They weren’t able to get much going in the run game –, averaging only 2.2 yards per carry with 54 total yards. They also were not as effective in the second half in general, scoring only six points. (Granted, they could’ve had at least three more points if not for a failed “4^th and Staley” moment – let the reader understand.)

In this case, the lack of scoring in the second half didn’t matter as the Bears struggled too much to make it a close game in the second half. But it’s a problem that continues to crop up every so often for the Chargers offense – and against better opponents, it could prove more problematic. And we should still remember that the Bears were on their second-string quarterback and also do not have a good defense. Still, there were a lot of promising things in this win – and Herbert looking more comfortable than he has in a few weeks has to bode well.