By Jordan Long
The L.A. Chargers are preparing to take on the Green Bay Packers this Sunday. The Chargers sit at 3-5, third place in the AFC West. The Chargers decided to move on from offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt who had been with the Chargers since 2016.
The Chargers offense is part of the reason they are 3-5. They have a veteran quarterback in Philip Rivers who has tossed for 2,315 yards and 12 touchdowns. Those aren’t bad numbers for Rivers. He is able to find the open receiver. Those catches go for large chunks of yards.
The problem for Rivers is the turnovers and sacks. Rivers has been pressured this season forcing him to throw the ball quickly and those can be picked off. If he isn’t intercepted, he is sacked. Rivers has 7 interceptions and been sacked 14 times.
Overall the Chargers offense is able to move the ball down field through the air averaging 281.1 yards per game, ranking 6th in the NFL. They average 350.6 total yards per game, 17th in the NFL.
The problem has been running the football and scoring points. The offensive line isn’t holding their blocks to give the running backs a hole to run through. The defense is wrapping up the running back for short gains or losses. The Chargers average 69.5 yards on the ground, 28th in the NFL. When it comes to points, the Chargers have a difficult time scoring averaging 19.6 points per game. All of this is on Whisenhunt.
According to ESPN, Head Coach Anthony Lynn said, “This is not an easy decision and definitely not one that I take lightly. You win as a team, and you lose as a team. It’s never about just one person. At the end of the day, however, I simply felt a change was needed at this time. I want to thank Ken for his years of service to the Chargers organization and wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
The Chargers haven’t named a replacement for Whisenhunt. They could name quarterbacks’ coach Shane Steichen as Whisenhunt’s replacement. If not, Head Coach Anthony Lynn has experience calling plays. He did that as offensive coordinator when he was with the Buffalo Bills in 2016.
The Chargers hope letting Whisenhunt go will improve the offense and boost their chances of making the postseason. The only way it will is if they start playing better football and score more points on the scoreboard. Otherwise it could be a long rest of the year for them on offense and who knows how many more wins they will get.
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