Chargers offense goes silent in 2nd half of 22-16 loss
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — The Los Angeles Chargers couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start on offense with a touchdown drive to open the game.
After that, the shorthanded offensive faltered and had no answers against a strong San Francisco defense.
Justin Herbert and the Chargers had to keep three field goals on their last 10 drives because the running game never got off the ground and the passing game failed to produce any big plays in a 22-16 loss to the San Francisco 49ers Sunday night.
“We just didn’t execute,” Herbert said. “We had our chances. I thought the defense played great all day. They got some big stops and unfortunately we came up short. We couldn’t run if we had to be third.”
Los Angeles (5-4) came on and missed both starting tackles and starting receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams, then lost first-half tight end Gerald Everett to a groin injury.
But Herbert overcame those absences early, going 4 for 4 on the opening drive, capped by a 32-yard touchdown pass to DeAndre Carter.
The Chargers couldn’t make it back to the end zone and averaged a meager 3.33 yards per play for the rest of the game.
“You have to change the tempo against them,” said coach Brandon Staley. “Because if it’s just going to be a drop-back game then all the risk is in the plan against a team like that. As long as it was tight, we wanted to force these guys to play the thing straight.”
Los Angeles opted for field goals on drives in the second quarter, starting in the San Francisco area, and then again late in the first half when Herbert had to be substituted out with a concussion after Los Angeles got the ball to the 20 .
Herbert returned in the second half, but the offensive was mostly lacking.
The Chargers only had three first downs and 52 yards — the fewest in a half of a game since 2007 — because Herbert had little time to act against an aggressive San Francisco defense.
“Guys have to step up and make plays,” said running back Austin Ekeler. “It depends on us playmakers. We have to play hard, but we also have to play. We can’t just do the minimum. And today we didn’t even manage to do that, especially in the second half.”
Despite all that fighting, the Chargers still had three chances to take the lead after falling behind for the first time with just under eight minutes to go.
Los Angeles went three and out on his next possession and then got the ball with 2:03 to play back to his own 1, down 19-16.
Herbert’s pass to fourth and third of his own 8 went off Joshua Palmer’s hands for a turnover on downs and then he threw a game-winning interception with 53 seconds left after San Francisco called another field goal.
“They did a great job disrupting the pass lanes,” Herbert said. “That’s a really tough front seven to go up against and they’ve got some pretty good cover guys back there too. They’re trained really well and we just didn’t pull it off, not getting third place conversions when we needed them and not keeping the rides going.
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