Chargers’ Jim Harbaugh says changes not necessary despite latest loss

SEATTLE — One by one, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh deflected the postgame questions, relying on pat answers again and again after a 30-23 loss Sunday to the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field dropped them to 0-4 and put their chances at a significant course correction in doubt.

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“Is Mike’s position as offensive coordinator in jeopardy at this point now that you guys are 0-4?” a reporter asked, referring to Mike McDaniel, whose offense sputtered and wheezed and looked out of sync until something clicked in the fourth quarter and the Chargers nearly rallied from a 30-13 deficit.

“I like our players, and we have skilled coaches, and we’re going to keep growing,” Harbaugh said, pausing long enough for another reporter to ask if Harbaugh’s response was that McDaniel’s job was not in jeopardy. Or whether he was simply avoiding answering a most-pressing question.

“No, no, no, his job is not in jeopardy,” Harbaugh said emphatically.

Harbaugh also said no other changes were planned despite another lost afternoon, another in which quarterback Justin Herbert did not look comfortable through the first three quarters. With the Seahawks in firm command, Herbert then sparked a fourth-quarter comeback from a 17-point deficit.

Herbert’s first pass was intercepted on the Chargers’ first play from scrimmage, which didn’t prove to be problematic because Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold was intercepted on his first attempt on Seattle’s first play. Advantage, Chargers, who picked up 17 yards on the turnover exchange.

It set the tone for some very unattractive football, however.

Herbert completed 5 of 14 passes for 36 yards with two interceptions and a passer rating of 4.8 in a miserable first half in which the Chargers trailed 20-6. He finished by completing 19 of 31 passes for 189 yards with one touchdown, two interceptions and a passer rating of 62.4.

The Seahawks (3-1) sacked Herbert four times and hit him numerous times. Herbert also ran six times for 40 yards, second behind running back Omarion Hampton, who rushed for 45 yards on nine carries as he played in a rotation for the second consecutive week with Keaton Mitchell and Kimani Vidal.

Hampton ran for one score and Cameron Dicker kicked three field goals.

The party line for the Chargers has been that they’ve been close offensively, that if they continue to work and continue to grow, then they will reap the rewards sooner rather than later. Four defeats in four games isn’t a small sample size anymore, though. Something seems amiss.

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“Keep growing, keep building, keep attacking,” Harbaugh said.

Harbaugh had never started a season 0-2 as an NFL coach, but he and the Chargers are 0-4 with the Denver Broncos up next on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, followed by a trip to Kansas City to play the Chiefs before they reach their bye in Week 7. The Chargers last started 0-4 in 2017.

“We’ve got the players, we’ve got skilled coaches, we’re going to keep going for that breakthrough,” Harbaugh said when asked if McDaniel needed to make changes to a game plan that simply hasn’t produced the desired results in losses to the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders, Buffalo Bills and the Seahawks.

“Back-to-back touchdown drives, that was a good sign.”

Harbaugh referred to an 11-play, 81-yard drive that netted Herbert’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Vidal that cut the Chargers’ deficit to 27-13 with 4:53 left in the third quarter and a 16-play, 85-yard drive that produced Hampton’s 2-yard scoring run that made it 30-20 with 7:48 to go in the game.

Asked point-blank if, after four games this season and after spring practices and training camp, he felt finally comfortable in McDaniel’s offense, Herbert offered a non-response response that was similar to those of Harbaugh. He simply didn’t answer the question delivered to him.

“I think we’ve made a lot of plays and we’re doing everything we can to keep scoring points and I appreciate the battle that everyone showed today, a lot of good things to show, a lot of things to correct and watch (on video starting on the flight home) and get better at,” Herbert said.

As usual, the Chargers hurt themselves with mistakes, starting with Herbert’s interceptions and continuing with Derius Davis’ muffed punt that set up the Seahawks’ first score of the game, a 23-yard touchdown pass from Darnold to running back Emmanuel Wilson with 9:55 left in the first quarter.

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Herbert also fumbled after he was sacked in the fourth quarter.

Not to be overlooked, the Chargers were penalized 16 times for 130 yards.

The Seahawks were penalized 14 times for 150 yards.