Comeback Chargers? Anthony Lynn expects team to turn around season
As rough as last season was for the Chargers — and no one expected a group coming off a postseason berth to finish 5-11 — that team never lost more than three games in a row.
The current Chargers dropped their fourth straight Monday in New Orleans, 30-27 in overtime.
“I never thought this team would have lost four in a row,” coach Anthony Lynn said. “But, I’ll tell you, I was on [another] Chargers team that did and that team came back fighting. I expect this team to come back and do the same.”
The 2017 Chargers lost the first four games of Lynn’s tenure as head coach. That team rebounded to finish 9-7 and narrowly miss the playoffs.
One of the few things Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert hasn’t done is win a game and Monday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints continued the trend.
The Chargers now enter their off week with plenty to ponder as they look to keep the season from completely unraveling.
“I know that if we keep working hard and doing the right things, good things will happen,” quarterback Justin Herbert said. “I love the way this team battles. I know we’re going to stick together. Losing’s tough. It always is. But we’re going to learn from it.”
This isn’t Herbert’s first experience struggling to win games early on. At Oregon, the Ducks were 1-4 in his first five starts as a freshman.
With the Chargers, he’s 0-4, each defeat coming by one score and two happening in overtime. The Chargers have been outscored by 18 points in their four losses.
A wrenching Chargers season continued Monday when they blew a 17-point, first-half lead for the second consecutive week in a 30-27 overtime loss against the New Orleans Saints.
“It’s not time to point fingers and blame and all that,” Lynn said. “As a team — coaching staff and players — we have 11 games left to turn this around. We know we can play with anybody because we’ve been doing it. We’ve just got to finish these damn games.”
Said running back Justin Jackson: “Everyone’s fighting. We just gotta make a few more plays. That’s how the league is. Always comes down to close games. We don’t have to make it a close game. We have to keep our foot on the neck when we get a big lead.”
Go beyond the scoreboard
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