Chargers are in serious trouble after another no-show to open season

Entering Sunday night, there were seven teams in the NFL that were off to an 0-2 start.

The Los Angeles Chargers are one of those teams after a 26-14 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

They also might be in the most trouble out of all of the 0-2 teams that are sitting alongside them.

It is only going to get more difficult for the Chargers

It's not just the fact the Chargers have lost their first two games. It's the way they lost those games, the teams they lost to and what their upcoming schedule looks like.

They opened the season with home games against the Arizona Cardinals and Raiders, two teams that not only missed the playoffs a year ago but are once again figured to be among the league's worst in 2026.

While nothing can be assumed in the NFL, and "any given Sunday" rules always apply here, that is still as favorable as an early season schedule could possibly be. 

Even if you didn't want to assume a 2-0 start, a 1-1 start at a minimum should have been the floor. The Chargers couldn't even accomplish that, and it was a team-wide failure in getting there. Especially as it relates to the team's offense.

Expectations were high for the Chargers offense this season given the way so many people around the league still believe in quarterback Justin Herbert as an elite player. Add in the arrival of new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, and there were high hopes for what they could unlock with one another.

Through two games, nothing is clicking.

The offensive line has been bad. Wide receivers have dropped balls and struggled to get open. Herbert himself has also struggled, having already thrown three interceptions, while fumbling three times on Sunday (the Chargers did, however, recover all three fumbles). Running back Omarion Hampton, the team's first-round pick in 2025, has also already fumbled twice in two games, including a game-deciding fumble late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. 

It's not good.

Do you know what else isn't good?

The Chargers' upcoming schedule.

After fumbling the ball (literally) in the two winnable games on paper, their next seven games feature the Buffalo Bills (away), Seattle Seahawks (away), Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs (away), Los Angeles Rams (away), Houston Texans and Baltimore Ravens (away).

Five of those teams were playoff teams in 2025.

The sixth and seventh teams are Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

After that stretch, they get a Week 11 game against the New York Jets before playing the reigning AFC champion New England Patriots in Week 12. 

That is daunting. Especially with five of the next seven games coming on the road. Given how difficult the AFC West is going to be, and how many of those games are against divisional opponents, the Chargers are already in a position where they have almost no margin for error. 

They have spent years falling short of preseason expectations that were far too high, and they already seem to be in danger of doing it again. If they cannot beat the Cardinals and Raiders at home, why should you expect them to beat the Bills or Seahawks on the road?