Chargers fall to Colts after slow start

Inglewood, CA (The Compton Bulletin) – The Los Angeles Chargers started the season 3-0. Four games later, the Chargers have a 4-3 mark with a second-place standing in the AFC West Division. 

Their 38-24 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts at SoFi Stadium can be pegged as one that the Chargers started a little too late, even though Los Angeles closed the game with a flurry. It was too late. 

“Yeah, it wasn’t our best day, but do I have confidence in my team? Yes. Do I believe they’re fighting? Yes, and that’s all you can really ask for as a coach – that they’re giving everything they have no matter what the circumstances,” Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh said during his postgame press conference. “No matter if they’re down 17 or 21. You keep battling, keep fighting, believe and get ready for Thursday night.”

After spotting the Colts a 23-3 lead through the first two quarters of play, the Chargers, led by the resilient efforts of quarterback Justin Herbert, went into shotgun mode and fired back with 21 points in the second half. 

“Yeah, I thought it was just a little bit better in each phase, that’s what I told our guys at halftime,” Harbaugh said. “They’re giving everything they’ve got and that’s all I can ask as a coach.”

Unfortunately, Herbert and the Chargers ran out of time and saw their third defeat in the team’s last four games become a reality. After falling deep into a scoring deficit, Herbert said the message at halftime was to stay cool. 

“Just staying patient,” Herbert said during his postgame remarks. “Just going out there and executing and knowing that it wasn’t us. It was uncharacteristic in the first half – you know, trusting each other and going out there and making plays. We moved the ball pretty well in the first half. [We] just can’t turn the ball over like that.”

This game had a lot of interesting components to it. The Chargers were better in third down efficiency (8-16 compared to 5 of 11), dominated the clock (34:27 to 25:33), and got off way with more offensive plays (74 to 58) than the Colts. 

Those numbers, however, are somewhat misleading as the Chargers had to play catch up in the second half after going through the motions in the first two quarters. 

The Colts actually held the advantage in the first half for time of possession (17:29 to 12:31) and nearly doubled the number of first downs (17 to 8) that Los Angeles had. 

It didn’t help the Chargers that Herbert had two passes picked off as Los Angeles positioned itself for potential scores, including a throw that was intercepted in the endzone.

“It’s obviously tough,” Herbert said about not preventing defensive takeaways. “You go into the game and you want to protect the ball. I just can’t turn the ball over like that. It’s tough the way it went. It’s not the way we wanted it to go and definitely something that I’ll have to take a look at – just have to put the team in a position to win and didn’t protect the ball today.”

With the running game limited to 54 yards for the game, including 31 by Herbert, the Chargers quarterback dialed it up in the passing game. Overall, Herbert completed 37 of 55 passes for 420 yards and three touchdowns.

 Harbaugh had nothing but praise for Herbert and the effort he put forth against the Colts. 

“Tremendous. Competitor. Warrior. That’s the way I felt about Justin and our entire team,” said Harbaugh. “Just keep competing, keep fighting, keep working, and believe.”  

This article first appeared on The Compton Bulletin website. The Compton Bulletin is an editorial partner of News4usOnline. Photo credit for lead or feature image: Sammy Saludo / The Compton Bulletin