Chargers 0-7 after Rams loss, and Jim Harbaugh owns every bit of it

Who is to blame for the Chargers starting 0-7?

Jim Harbaugh. Not the quarterback, not the kicker, not the schedule. The head coach. The Los Angeles Chargers lost 24-9 to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday and fell to 0-7. They are the last winless team in the NFL.

This is a roster that made the playoffs last season. It has Justin Herbert. It has a defense that held the Rams to 3-of-11 on third down on Sunday. And it has not won a game in seven tries. When the talent is that good and the record is that bad, the man in charge of the whole building wears it.

The history makes it sting. This is the franchise's first 0-7 start since 2000. The Chargers quarterback that year was Jim Harbaugh. He made five starts and lost all five on a team that finished 1-15.

Why can't the Chargers score a touchdown?

Because the plan does not work, and nobody is changing it. The Chargers have gone 27 straight possessions without a touchdown. That is nine straight quarters without finding the end zone. Their last touchdown came in the third quarter of Week 5.

Sunday was the whole season in one afternoon. The Chargers led 9-3 late in the first half on three Cameron Dicker field goals, from 34, 46 and 41 yards. Every one of those drives stalled inside the Rams 30. Four drives started at their own 40 or better, and they got three points out of all four combined. Then the Rams scored the next 21.

The Chargers came into Sunday scoring 15 points per game with an average margin of minus 10.2 (Last Call game data). Then they scored 9.

Is Justin Herbert the problem?

Herbert went 24-of-32 for 257 yards and threw two more interceptions. He has a league-high 10, with at least one in every game. That is a real problem, and he owned it after the game.

But Herbert has thrown for big numbers and made the playoffs in this league before. Quarterbacks do not forget how to play. They get put in bad spots by the plan around them, and the plan belongs to the head coach. After the loss, Harbaugh said Mike McDaniel stays the play caller. Twenty-seven possessions without a touchdown, and the answer was yes, same guy, same calls.

What is the case for Harbaugh?

It is a fair one. Harbaugh took over this team in 2024 and made the playoffs. His defense is still doing its job: on Sunday it allowed 281 total yards, held the Rams to zero first downs on their first 16 plays and picked off Matthew Stafford. A coach who builds that does not become bad in one fall.

And he is not quitting on anybody. He said there is no quit and no surrender in that locker room, and he said he believes in his guys.

None of that wins a game. Loyalty to a play caller whose offense cannot reach the end zone is not toughness. It is stubbornness, and it costs a playoff roster its season.

Can the Chargers still win four games?

No. To win four, an offense that has not scored a touchdown in nine quarters has to win four of its last ten, and the schedule does not ease up. The Houston Texans come to town next. The Chiefs and a trip to Denver close the season.

This team does not win four games. Write it down. We will be back in January to grade it either way.