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Hernández: Chargers can celebrate, but you can't crown them overnight contenders yet
Jim Harbaugh previously had said he would never use the word “satisfied” when talking about football.
In that case, where did the first-year coach think the Chargers had to improve, especially when considering the caliber of teams they will play over the next five weeks?
Harbaugh’s team had just claimed a 27-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans at SoFi Stadium on Sunday to improve to 6-3. They remained the only team in the NFL to hold each of its opponents to 20 points or less.
Instead of starting to worry about Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals right away, Harbaugh called on his players to celebrate their latest win, which was their fourth in five games.
Harbaugh promised to take his own advice.
“For me,” he said, “it will be the next six hours. Those are gonna be good enjoyment. Somewhere around five, five-thirty, six hours, six-thirty mark, then it’ll just hit me that the Cincinnati Bengals are up next and we’re on to them.”
Read more: Justin Herbert gives Chargers' offense legs as defense shuts down Titans
Harbaugh might as well take a reprieve while he can, as the upcoming stretch of games should reveal whether the Chargers actually have become overnight contenders under his watch or were beneficiaries of a soft early-season schedule.
Following a Week 11 visit by the Bengals, the Chargers will play, in order, the Baltimore Ravens, Atlanta Falcons, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The games against the Falcons and Chiefs will be on the road.
The Chargers still haven’t won a game against a team with a quarterback who ranks in the top half of the league’s qualifying passers.
On Sunday, they beat Will Levis, one of the lowest-rated quarterbacks. Their other victories were against Gardner Minshew, Bryce Young, Bo Nix, Spencer Rattler and Jameis Winston.
The quarterbacks they will face over the next five weeks: Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Kirk Cousins, Patrick Mahomes and Baker Mayfield. The only one of them who doesn’t have a top-10 passer rating is Mahomes, who is, well, Mahomes.
“Like you said, some pretty good offenses, some pretty good quarterbacks,” linebacker Daiyan Henley said.
The intention here isn’t to suggest the transformations the Chargers have made under Harbaugh are a mirage. The change is real.
“Y’all feel the culture, y’all feel the locker room,” safety Derwin James Jr. said. “It’s not just some made-up thing.”
The Chargers play with a physicality they didn’t previously have. A franchise known for unraveling late in games has made the second half theirs.
“I think it starts with OTAs,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “We call them the fourth-quarter finishers, after practice, after two hours out on the field, we’re going to go do some more drills, we’re going to go pull sleds, we’re going to go flip sleds. Guys kind of create that mental toughness.”
That strength has translated into a complete buy-in on what Harbaugh is selling. Regarding the upcoming five-game stretch, James said, “Just keep doing what we’ve been doing, communicating with each other, man, and we’ll like what we see.”
Henley shared a similar sense of optimism.
“I think the biggest thing about it is preparation, not looking too far ahead, one day at a time and trying to execute, have a good week of practice so we can go out in the game and attack.”
The latest win presented the Chargers with more reasons to believe, as they sacked Levis seven times in a game in which edge rushers Khalil Mack’s and Joey Bosa’s playing time was limited because of injuries.
Then again …
If Levis was able to connect with Calvin Ridley on a 41-yard pass on the opening drive, what will Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase do against them?
If the Titans were able to gain 132 yards on the ground, how many will Derrick Henry and the Ravens get?
And, as much as the Chargers intended to diversify their offense, they remain helplessly dependent on Herbert.
In their first nine games, the Chargers have proven they can beat teams they should beat. They have proven they won’t beat themselves.
Over the next five weeks, they will learn whether they can be more than that.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
