Sports are often a sobering world … one week you’re screaming from the mountaintops that the Bolts could be Super Bowl bound ... the next you’re wondering if the Los Angeles Chargers are even a playoff team.

Today’s Hottest Take: Don’t Panic … Yet

It’s very easy to look at the brutal nature of the loss to the Jaguars and dive straight into panic mode, but I implore Chargers fans to refrain from that instinct. The NFL is a long season, and duds show up throughout the course of said long season. Sunday was a dud. Justin Herbert looked shaky at best, even when he had good enough protection. The run game was dormant, the defense reverted to how it looked against Indianapolis, and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.

The Bolts now have a bye week to rest, reset, and get key pieces like Omarion Hampton back for what is likely to be a season-defining six-game stretch against the Raiders, Eagles, Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans, and Broncos. With the division slowly looking more and more out of reach, expectations shift to a wild card berth, in which the Chargers would need to most likely go at least 3-3 in this stretch at the very least to achieve. We will find out a lot about Jim Harbaugh and company depending on how they bounce back post-bye week.

What You Need to Know: When It’s Bad, It’s Bad

The Chargers are Murphy’s Law personified, because when it rains, it pours. The Chargers last three losses are by 17, 14, and 29 points, respectively. It’s worth noting that the 14-point loss to the Colts was nowhere near as close as the final score indicates. The Chargers biggest issue is playing from behind, an inability to stop the run, paired with a constant struggle to protect against the pass, compounds itself when you go down multiple scores. Pass rushers love knowing the run game is not a factor as it lets them be so much more aggressive in their pass rush, leading to even more pressure against an already susceptible unit up front.

When the Chargers can get out to a strong start, deploy their pass rush package, and lean on teams with their run game, they look like Super Bowl contenders, but when they go down early and have to play catch-up, every flaw they have gets brought to the limelight.

Before You Go: The Chargers Have a New Approach to the Bye Week

Coach Harbaugh announced a decision that didn’t exactly resonate with many of the Chargers faithful when he said that all personnel are going to get the entire bye week off, a change from last year's bye week plan, after the 35-6 loss to the Jags this past weekend. While the optics of giving a team fresh off a mental and physical beatdown an entire week of vacation are shaky at best, the decision is rooted in good faith.

The Chargers Week 12 bye is much later than their Week 5 bye last year, and many players and coaches could benefit from the time spent with family, recovering physically, and just the time to mentally separate themselves from the grind of a long NFL season. I will question a lot about Coach Harbaugh, most notably his borderline toxic relationship with unproductive vets like Bud Dupree and Bradley Bozeman, his head scratching and borderline cowardice when it comes to decision making on fourth down, and his forever depressing decision to appoint Greg Roman in charge of a Justin Herbert offense ... but as far as his ability to manage a locker room and have his finger on the pulse of what his guys need right now? That much I will certainly trust Coach Harbaugh.