Los Angeles Chargers won’t improve unless they do one thing

After an excellent season ended in humiliation, the Los Angeles Chargers are left wondering how to get better. With few holes to fill and little turnover looming, the Chargers will only get over the hump one way.

What can the Los Angeles Chargers do to get over the hump? They return all their biggest names from both sides of the ball next season. But something must be done to push them over the top. This group isn’t good enough.

The Chargers were humiliated by the eventual Super Bowl champions last season, bringing into question how much better this team can actually be. Los Angeles must improve to get over the hump, but there’s only one thing that will help.

Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem, debate the Los Angeles Chargers in today’s NFL Sports Debate.

Todd Salem:

One area that needs to be addressed is the interior of the offensive line. Pro Football Focus said Dan Feeney allowed the most pressures of any guard in the league last season. The other main area of need is defensive linebacker. These are two ironic positional holes that can be either good or bad depending on how you look at it.

If forced to pick the least important positional group on offense, it is probably guard. Tackles and centers are more important. Specific skill players can be argued, but they certainly have a larger impact. On defense, the same holds true for linebackers. The pass rush is certainly more important. So is the secondary. That means Los Angeles’ two main holes are the two least important spots on the roster (in gross generalizations). Based on what we know about this squad, is that a good thing or a bad thing?

It’s a good thing because the impact of weak guards or linebackers would be less than other positions. They should also be easier to fill with adequate players. The baseline level of production needed is much lower. And they may come cheaper since demand is lower. That’s all good.

It’s a bad thing because I began this segment with saying how the Chargers aren’t a good enough football team and need to make strides somewhere on the roster. If the only place to make strides is at guard or linebacker, how much better can this core get? Maybe we have maxed out the talent level of the Los Angeles Chargers. They are doomed to lose to New England ad infinitum.

This is obviously an oversimplification of the LA roster, but the point stands. The team feels like it has to make one final splash, but I don’t see a clear spot to receive it. Maybe at cornerback, but it will be hard to upgrade on free agent Jason Verrett since they have relied so little on him anyways because of injuries.

Right tackle and the aforementioned interior of the offensive line are spots that need addressing. Maybe I am overreacting. Little improvements can make a big difference if pieces come together. Where do you stand on the Chargers? Are little improvements all over enough to make this a Super Bowl team? Because that is the final step this squad has to reach.

Dan Salem:

Little improvements are what pushed the Los Angeles Chargers to the next level this past season. Prior to 2018, this team was always good, but never great. Last year the Chargers were pretty great and one of the top three teams in the AFC. That being said, Los Angeles was easily behind both New England and Kansas City once the playoffs rolled around. There was just something missing.

What you and I are eluding to is the absence of another dominant voice in the locker room. For whatever reason, Philip Rivers has been unable to galvanize and elevate his team in the playoffs, especially versus Tom Brady. Maybe it’s just Brady’s Patriots who hold the mental edge and easily apply the jinx to this team. Perhaps Rivers and his Chargers would have performed differently against a different opponent. But those thoughts are foolish, because New England is still the team to beat in the AFC.

Los Angeles must get by them to win a title, meaning they need someone, anyone, with playoff experience to provide confidence in Foxboro. Ideally this person has played for a team that defeated the Patriots in the postseason.

Little improvements can once again elevate Los Angeles in 2019, but the Chargers need a veteran who’s won it all in order to complete things. To me, their problems appear mental. Los Angeles does okay traveling to the East Coast in the wintertime, but does especially bad in Foxboro. Getting home field advantage seems like a necessity for this football team next year. That means winning their division…over Kansas City.

Nobody believes in the Los Angeles Chargers, but the Chargers can do it. They can win the AFC West because the only holes on this team are rather insignificant and easily filled. Little improvements can make a huge difference for this football team, but so can a single veteran in the locker room.

Rivers has a poor track record in the playoffs and it shows. A player like Bilal Powell, who simply adds depth to the running back position, has a ton of experience against New England. He is a savvy veteran and a great leader. A player like Powell can push this team over the top.