Los Angeles Chargers: When they last met the Seattle Seahawks

It’s important to look back on a team’s history. Today, we look back on the last preseason matchup between the Los Angeles Chargers and Seattle Seahawks.

In this second installment of the 2018 NFL preseason, we’ll take a look back on the last time the Los Angeles Chargers met the Seattle Seahawks in the preseason.

This, of course, comes ahead of the Chargers and Seahawks meeting again in Week 2 of the 2018 preseason.

Here’s how the game turned out, what it meant to the rest of the season, and how the team has changed since then.

The score

The Chargers were annihilated, 48-17, only scoring one field goal for the final three quarters of the game. There’s not too much to say here that the score doesn’t already indicate; the Bolts were beaten badly. Good thing it was only the preseason.

The highlights

• Philip Rivers opened the game with an efficient 13 play, 75-yard drive capped off by an Antonio Gates touchdown.
• Kellen Clemens actually completed a pass to his own team, hitting a striding Travis Benjamin for a 74-yard bomb on the first play of the series.
• Desmond King, soon-to-be fan preseason favorite, had himself four total tackles and a nice interception

How the game impacted the Chargers in 2017

The leading rusher for the Chargers in that game was Cardale Jones, who ran for a whopping 18 yards on two carries. Starters and second-stringers combined for 54 yards on 19 rushes, an astoundingly bad 2.84 yards per carry.

This game, along with the Chargers’ following game against the New Orleans Saints, finally put Anthony Lynn and the rest of the coaching staff in a position to shake up the roster. Eventually, an undrafted free agent was given an opportunity to take the RB3 job — Austin Ekeler.

What’s changed since then?

Not much, considering this was just one preseason ago. Two quarterbacks behind Rivers, Clemens and Mike Bercovici, are no longer with the team. Which is a shame, because after last Saturday’s performance, many are convinced they’re better than Jones, who remains on the team. Some players, like Artavis Scott and Sean Culkin, have been much more featured (seven catches, 68 yards combined on Saturday) in preseason action.

Here’s to hoping their next meeting isn’t the embarrassing blowout this one turned out to be.