‘4 Downs’ with Rich: the Los Angeles Chargers’ Biggest Questions ahead of the ‘26 NFL Season

Four questions decide whether Jim Harbaugh's Chargers are a problem this season, and the first one has nothing to do with scheme, coaching or talent. It is entirely up to the football gods.

Will the offensive line stay healthy? The last couple of years have been redonkulous on that front. There was a stretch where Rashawn Slater walking off the practice field made everyone flinch. Los Angeles spent the back half of last season picking players off other teams' practice squads in Weeks 10, 11 and 12. Keep Slater and the edges upright, keep the interior intact, and let's finally see what this thing actually looks like.

Second down is about what leaves rather than what arrives. Jesse Minter is in Baltimore now, and this remains a top-flight defense with top-flight players. Khalil Mack is back. Derwin James is one of the best in the business. Tuli is still waiting on the long-term contract and on his health. The talent is there, but the coordinator who made it fly around is not, and the question is whether the unit stays as stingy about giving up points.

Early returns say the physicality did not leave with him. The Chargers looked sharp and mean on Thursday night, and DeMeco Ryans said afterward that his team got out-physicaled by them. Coming from Houston, that is not a small admission.

Third down is the Mike McDaniel effect. For years the complaint about this offense under Greg Roman was the same one on repeat. Not inventive enough. Not wide open enough. Not fast enough. Not enough, generally. Now the odd couple gets to run it, and the question is what McDaniel actually brings beyond the quirkiness.

Rich thinks the answer is speed layered onto violence. Harbaugh is going to win the line of scrimmage because that is who he is. McDaniel wants to play fast. Fast and physical is a hard load to handle in this league, which is why Ladd McConkey is such a clean fit in this version of the offense and why the Chargers can hit home runs they have not been hitting. Quentin Johnston and Tre Harris can absolutely be legitimate options alongside him.

There is depth in the backfield too. Omarion Hampton has to stay healthy, and behind him the run game has Vidal and Keaton Mitchell, who has been balling out through the preseason so far.

Fourth down is the one that matters, and there is no gentle way to phrase it. It is time for Justin Herbert to win a playoff game.

Harbaugh has done his part on that front. He has pumped Herbert for the Heisman verbally, infused him with confidence and given him every ounce of belief a head coach can hand a quarterback. It is year three of the partnership. Assume the Chargers make the playoffs, because the roster and the staff say they should, and it would be lovely to do it with a home game rather than a trip to Jacksonville or into the New England cold.

Then win one. Herbert was a house on fire in his first four years, the guy everyone looked at and said was Josh Allen West Coast. Big, strong, unstoppable. He is all of that, and then January arrives and it just does not happen.

That gap is the whole season. It is also why Rich had the Chargers second in his way too early power rankings, a ranking that drew immediate objections around the set as being way, way, way too high. He gets it. He is not moving them.