KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Safety Tony Jefferson, a veteran of 140 games over 12 seasons in the NFL, didn’t know what to say. He might have seen plenty during a career with the Chargers, New York Giants, Baltimore Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals, but there’s been nothing quite like this.
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Jefferson looked downcast after the Chargers’ 22-6 loss Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs dropped them to 0-6. He almost sounded distraught. He wasn’t sure where things were going, but he seemed to know they had to get better, they needed to get better over the season’s final 11 games.
This, what the Chargers delivered at Arrowhead Stadium, wasn’t acceptable.
“Oh-and-six, it doesn’t, it doesn’t, it doesn’t roll off the tongue,” he said, trying to gather his thoughts. “I think the only thing you really can do is fix the mistakes that we made and go out there and try to get a ‘dub.’ I don’t like going into the bye on an ‘L’ because it makes me not really enjoy the bye week.”
Jefferson said he intends to visit the Chargers’ practice facility a little more this coming week than he might do ordinarily. Time away wasn’t going to help, as it might if the Chargers’ season hadn’t slipped away so suddenly, so dramatically after such high expectations to start the year.
“Just trying to figure out ways to get a ‘dub,’” he said.
In another corner of the Chargers’ cramped and overheated locker room, defensive lineman Justin Eboigbe did his best to make sense of what’s happened over the season’s first six weeks and what he could do to alter the team’s direction. He sounded as alarmed as Jefferson.
“I’ve got to be better,” Eboigbe said. “I’ve got to look at the man in the mirror.”
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In fact, the Chargers’ defense has upheld its end of the bargain. The Chargers haven’t been flawless defensively, but their unit has been vastly superior to the offense through the first six weeks. After all, they limited an explosive Chiefs offense to a grand total of three points in the second half.
What’s more, apart from a 33-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the Chargers never allowed Kansas City running back Kenneth Walker to break them down, as he had against so many opponents to start the Chiefs’ season. Walker rushed for 128 yards and two TDs, but he was contained.
“I’m not going to blame anyone else,” Eboigbe said. “I’m not going to live with anybody but myself. I’m not happy with the way I’m playing. It’s on me, and I know I’ll get better on that regardless of being hurt or whatever. If I’m out there, I’ve got to do what I’ve got to do. I’m looking at myself.”
Sticking together, defense and offense, appears to be all the Chargers have left.
“You keep fighting, you know?” said Eboigbe, a fourth-round draft pick in 2024 who has played 28 games in the NFL. “The dudes in this locker room, like D.J. (Pro Bowl safety Derwin James Jr.), like Dalvin (Tomlinson), like all the vets, man. You don’t want to just do it for yourself, but do it for them.”