The Los Angeles Chargers have endured a frustrating past couple of weeks. In all honesty a pretty frustrating season. Or really the past 30 years – AKA since the Chargers last made the AFC Championship game, way back in 1994.
First, the Chargers have had to place blue chippers Mike Williams, Joey Bosa and Corey Linsley on injured reserve, and all will now likely miss the grand majority of the season. Next, Justin Herbert was ruled out for the remainder of the season after suffering a fractured finger in a 24-7 defeat at home to division rivals, the Denver Broncos.
And now, the Los Angeles Chargers will have to make do without perhaps their best remaining player on offense for another division matchup at the Aiden O’Connell-lead Las Vegas Raiders, per Adam Schefter.
Chargers ruled out WR Kennan Allen for Thursday night’s game in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 13, 2023
How Will This Impact The Los Angeles Chargers’ Offense?
Quite a lot, one would imagine. If the Chargers had not already bailed on their season, with head coach Brandon Staley still holding out hope that he may yet receive another year, this will almost certainly be the nail in the coffin.
LA are 2 games out of the playoffs and 3 games under .500 at 5-8, and will go to last place in the AFC West if they fail to beat Las Vegas tomorrow night. This is all with a star-studded roster, offensively and defensively, and a clear franchise quarterback who almost any other NFL team would kill to have.
And now, without both Justin Herbert and their clear number one receiver, who has put up All-Pro caliber numbers this season, Allen, the Chargers are going to be somehow even worse than the trainwreck they have been all year under Staley’s visibly incompetent leadership.
The good news – if this really is good news – is that a.) they will have another coach by February, b.) they are on course for top 10 draft pick already, potentially bettering to top 5 come the end of the season, where they can focus on acquiring another blue chip prospect, or move down for additional draft capital.
And c.) If Keenan Allen and Justin Herbert were going to get injured – which obviously no one wants, both them and the fan base would much rather it happens in a season that is essentially already lost, rather than one in which there is still everything to play for.
This TNF game will be a difficult one to stomach, and is probably the closest thing to the ‘Toilet Bowl’ game this season – especially now that both Devante Adams and Josh Jacobs are questionable to play on Thursday night.
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