Welp, there it is: the sobering reality that the Los Angeles Chargers are still very much The Chargers. Week 4 brought forth the most obvious “trap game” where the Chargers' nightmares became reality. So what did we learn?

The Chargers are Not Contenders

As much fun as Weeks 1-3 were, there were big flashing signs warning all viewers not to buy into the Chargers as true contenders. The biggest being the ability, or lack thereof, to protect Justin Herbert. Herbert has been hit 26 times in the last two weeks. With the newest injury to the Bolts’ All-Pro-caliber tackle, Joe Alt, sidelining him for at least a couple of weeks, that number is poised to balloon even further.

The offensive line unit of Austin Deculus, Zion Johnson, Bradley Bozeman, Jamaree Salyer, and Trey Pipkins is not even a preseason starting five, much less one you can run out in an NFL game. Alas, here we are. They’ll get Alt back, and they are poised to re-add Mehki Becton to this unit soon. So there’s hope for an improved offensive line down the stretch ... but the ceiling with the three starters outside of them is uninspiring to say the least.

Regarding other issues this team has, the talent level is simply not up to par with the best of the best. The secondary is still a shaky unit with journeymen starters, the linebacker room past Daiyan Henley is not NFL-caliber considering the unreliable health of Denzel Perryman, and the pass rush is still up and down.

Tuli Tuipolotu Steps Up

Tuli Tuipolotu is one of the brightest spots of this Sunday. The young edge rusher finally broke out this year with four sacks vs the New York Giants, with three of them coming in the first half alone. But rest assured, this was not a random performance. After this week, Tuli has now jumped up to third in the NFL with 23 pressures and fourth in the NFL with 15 hurries. He was already performing well without the sack numbers to show for it, but now that he can add four sacks to his season total, he’s looking every bit of the edge rusher the Chargers needed him to become. The USC product has always been a stout run defender with some pass rush capability, but he’s putting it all together right now on a pass rush unit that needs him in the worst way.

Greg Roman is Broken

We need to turn him off and turn him back on again. Greg Roman, the man responsible for some of the most run-heavy offenses in modern NFL history, has decided to adopt the belief that the run game is obsolete in today’s NFL. I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around a universe where a Greg Roman offense is ranked third in pass play percentage (63.64%). When you consider the two teams ahead of them (Dallas and Cleveland) have spent majority of their games chasing their opponents, compared to a Chargers team that has been in either control of their games or in close contests, the number becomes genuinely startling.

This was fun when Herbert was being kept upright and the run game was sputtering; it just meant he was sticking with what was working and giving the Chargers offense their best chance to succeed. It became a lot less fun when Herbert was getting battered and Omarion Hampton was averaging north of 10 (!!!) yards per carry, and I’m still watching Greg Roman’s adaptation of the Air-Raid offense. This is an extremely long-winded way to say … run the ball!

Don’t Panic With Ladd McConkey

Trust me, I get it. Ladd has been concerning thus far. With two crucial drops in Sunday’s contest, last year's WR1 has not had a sensational start to his sophomore campaign. But with his pedestrian surface-level numbers comes strong underlying data. McConkey is still running his routes at an elite level, putting up a .207 separation score, which is actually an improvement from his .160 score in his rookie campaign. The talent is still obviously there, and Herbert is most certainly not a guy to give up on his weapons (see Quentin Johnston). So while he’s currently taking a backseat to the rekindling of Herbert to Keenan Allen–and the ascension of Johnston–trust me when I tell you that Ladd McConkey will be just fine and have a strong rest of his 2025 campaign.