By admin 
EL SEGUNDO – The consensus Thursday from the Chargers’ offensive, defensive and special teams coordinators was that each of the three units was not good enough, not up to standards or expectations during a 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the season-opening game Sunday.
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Mike McDaniel, Chris O’Leary and Ryan Ficken said the offensive, defensive and special teams play must be improved going into Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders. The response so far appears appropriate in Week 2 after a Week 1 bummer.
Here’s a sampling of what each coordinator said about losing to the Cardinals in the fashion the Chargers did Sunday and what’s been done to ensure there’s not a repeat this weekend against their longtime AFC West rival, starting with an extended question-and-answer session with McDaniel:
‘HUMBLE PIE’
“You have a lot of visions about coming to a new team and working on something for months, and the vision never looked like that,” McDaniel said. “So that’s the beautiful thing about football. Like life, time spent forecasting, visualizing things going a certain way, the world, the league, no one cares about that.
“So, it was a case of humble pie. It didn’t feel good to anyone. It wasn’t good enough. First thing Monday morning, the coordinators got with Coach (Jim Harbaugh), and it was so obviously over the top not what we wanted as our product of football that we set forth a plan of action.”
Atop the to-do list for McDaniel, quarterback Justin Herbert and the offense was cleaning up their act. Herbert was intercepted on something of a desperation heave toward wide receiver Derius Davis, for example. The Chargers were penalized seven times, for another.
The Chargers’ issues in Week 1 are fixable, according to McDaniel.
“It’s been a long but very healthy week,” he said. “It feels like a month.”
Overall, he said of Raiders Week so far, “I’ve been very happy with the response. That’s what this league is about. It’s not about how you accept high-fives, it’s about how you handle things when things don’t go the way you envision them. Truth be told, we didn’t play good football, and it’s our job to do that (play well).
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“I don’t think the football was good enough and, certainly, not up to the potential that we have as a group of individuals. To me, it’s been my favorite week of employment here because I know my experience in this league is that you do not measure anything beyond how a group of people handles adversity.”
McDaniel spoke with reporters for more than 30 minutes.
‘NOT GOOD ENOUGH’
“We’ve got to bring it up in a lot of areas, we’ve got to be better in a lot of areas,” O’Leary said of what he saw on the video of Sunday’s game and what needed to be addressed this week. “It starts with prep, goes to coaching, in-game, playing the game – all of it. So, we’re just excited to get better right now.”
In fact, the Chargers’ defense wasn’t very good on the Cardinals’ first possession, when Arizona quarterback Jacoby Brissett picked them apart, leading to a 5-yard touchdown run by rookie Jeremiyah Love. But, unlike the Chargers’ offense, the defense improved as the game progressed.
The Cardinals’ second touchdown was set up by a blocked punt that gave them possession at the Chargers’ 3-yard line. Brissett then hit tight end Trey McBride on a 3-yard touchdown pass that gave Arizona a 23-14 lead with 11:44 remaining.
So, that wasn’t a defensive letdown by any stretch of the imagination.
‘GOT TO BE BETTER’
Ficken called the blocked punt a “blemish.” He also said, “I believe it’s cleaned up, but we’ve got to be better, and not just in that punt situation, but in all situations, in all phases. I would say we’ve got a lot of room to grow. I’d be lying if I said I love exactly where we’re at right now.”
He added: “The good news is that it’s just one game, but I told the guys we can’t allow it to define us. We’ll only let it define us if we allow it to. We’ve got a new opportunity and we’re going to attack this game plan this week, and that’s what our guys have done so far.
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“I know they’re up for the challenge.”
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This story was originally published September 17, 2026 at 2:49 PM.