Chargers vs. 49ers: Previewing Preseason Week 4 for San Francisco
By Chris Wilson
Preseason Week 4 by the numbers
After finishing two consecutive seasons at the bottom of their division, the Los Angeles Chargers parted ways with head coach Mike McCoy after the 2016 season. The Chargers replaced McCoy with former 49ers running back — and recent candidate for San Francisco’s head coaching job — Anthony Lynn.
Los Angeles improved drastically under Lynn’s leadership, and ended the 2017 season with nine victories, which was good for a second-place finish in the AFC West. However, the Chargers’ 9-7 record wasn’t enough to earn the team a trip to the playoffs, as they lost playoff tiebreakers to the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills — who both earned Wild Card spots — and the Baltimore Ravens, who also missed out on January football.
Over the course of last season, Los Angeles’ biggest pitfall on offense was similar to their greatest asset on defense — their offense’s failure to convert yardage into points, and their defense’s ability to bend but not break.
While the Chargers accumulated over 6,000 yards of offense in 2017 — thanks to a league-leading 4,431 passing yards — they only scored 22 points a game, which ranked near league average.
On defense, the Chargers allowed just 17 points per game, which ranked third in the NFL, despite giving up 5,254 yards on defense, including a second-worst 2,098 yards on the ground after allowing an NFL-high 4.9 yards per carry.
In 2018, Los Angeles’ run defense will likely rank in the bottom half of the NFL, while their passing defense should be another top-10 unit. After going through five kickers last season, the Chargers will also look for improvement from their special teams unit, which was one of the NFL’s worst in 2017.
After boasting one of the league’s top passing attacks, the Chargers’ offense will once again run through veteran QB Philip Rivers, who had a resurgence in 2017 after minimizing mistakes. The quarterback, who turned 31 last season, cut both his prior-year interception and sack totals by half during his 2017 Pro Bowl season.
Los Angeles suffered a major blow on offense when they lost tight end Hunter Henry to a season-ending ACL injury in May. After parting ways with TE Antonio Gates after 15 seasons, former Denver Broncos tight end Virgil Green — known for blocking skills as opposed to his receiving prowess — will start for the Chargers at the position:
| Year | Tm | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD | Lng | R/G | Y/G | Ctch% | Fmb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | DEN | 15 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 24 | 8.0 | 0 | 9 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 60.0% | 0 |
| 2012 | DEN | 12 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 63 | 12.6 | 0 | 28 | 0.4 | 5.3 | 83.3% | 0 |
| 2013 | DEN | 16 | 3 | 12 | 9 | 45 | 5.0 | 0 | 10 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 75.0% | 0 |
| 2014 | DEN | 13 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 74 | 12.3 | 1 | 38 | 0.5 | 5.7 | 100.0% | 0 |
| 2015 | DEN | 16 | 5 | 15 | 12 | 173 | 14.4 | 1 | 32 | 0.8 | 10.8 | 80.0% | 0 |
| 2016 | DEN | 12 | 11 | 37 | 22 | 237 | 10.8 | 1 | 31 | 1.8 | 19.8 | 59.5% | 0 |
| 2017 | DEN | 16 | 16 | 22 | 14 | 191 | 13.6 | 1 | 44 | 0.9 | 11.9 | 63.6% | 0 |
| Care | 100 | 49 | 103 | 71 | 807 | 11.4 | 4 | 44 | 0.7 | 8.1 | 0 |
Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
And although the Chargers’ rushing attack is far from efficient, running back Melvin Gordon is no slouch. In 2017, the third-year RB totalled 1,581 scrimmage yards and 12 scores in his first complete 16-game NFL season.