The Chargers may have been heavily favorited entering the Week 5 matchup against the Broncos, but they were unable to match those expectations in Sunday’s 20-13 loss.
In order to keep carrying some momentum, Los Angeles really needed that win before heading into the more difficult patch of their schedule. But now they can only look on to rest of the schedule and execute on their miscues.
Here are three things we learned about the Chargers in Week 5:
Chargers need Rivers on his A-game in order for success
Despite all the injuries on the offensive side of the ball, Rivers has managed to be sharp. But Sunday was not his best game, and you can make the argument that is was one of his worst games within the past couple of years.
His 32-of-48 passing for 211 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions speaks for itself, which was resulted from poor decisions, bad throws and being under constant pressure all afternoon long.
Of course the running game couldn’t get into a good rhythm, but when the team is missing a slew of players, a lot of it falls on Rivers’ shoulders to guide them to success. He was unable to and because of it, it was one of the reasons that cost them the game.
Chargers need to eliminate early defensive struggles
The Chargers gave up 111 yards to the Dolphins in the first quarter last week, and they followed that up with giving up 187 yards to the Broncos this week, including two touchdowns.
Earlier in the season, it was the exact opposite. Los Angeles’ defense was stout the first half and they experienced woes in the second half. Even though it wasn’t out of their reach at the end of the half, the offense couldn’t match Denver’s points.
Sure, the defense had a great stand in the second half this past weekend, but they can’t afford to play catch-up anymore. The defense needs to start like they did in the second portion of the game from start to finish no matter who their opponent is going forward.
Austin Ekeler needs to stay involved on the ground
Melvin Gordon made his 2019 debut, which resulted in 32 snaps played. In those 32 snaps, Gordon carried the ball 12 times and only managed to produce 31 yards. Meanwhile, Ekeler only rushed three times.
Ekeler still led the team in offensive touches, but the majority of them came as a pass catcher, finishing with 15 receptions. Prior to Gordon returning, Ekeler showed to be efficient through the air and on the ground.
There’s no denying that the team wanted to get Gordon up to pace by feeding him the rock, but when he was consistently getting bottled up because of the lack of vision, along with being down and needing points, it may have been a better decision to let Ekeler run the ball.
