San Diego Chargers Must Find Balance on Offense to Take Next Step

On Monday night, the San Diego Chargers managed to lose a football game that they had no real business losing. 

The Chargers were at home and playing a Pittsburgh Steelers team that was without star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The team also had future Hall of Famer Antonio Gates back at the tight end position.

Aside from an interception that was returned for a touchdown, quarterback Philip Rivers was absolutely superb. Rivers finished the game 35-of-48 for 365 yards and two touchdowns. Gates (nine receptions for 92 yards) caught both of those scores. 

That interception, though, was a real killer. So was the inability to keep the Michael Vick-led Steelers offense out of the end zone with a three-point lead and less than three minutes remaining in the game. 

The Chargers even benefited from a mysteriously running clock that followed a touchback to start Pittsburgh's final possession. ESPN's Ed Werder provided additional details regarding the clock situation: 

For most of the game, the San Diego defense played well—the Steelers offense produced just 10 points before the game's final drive. However, the Chargers couldn't stop the opposition from driving 80 yards and scoring as time expired. The long run from Steelers quarterback Michael Vick that set up the final score was difficult to defense, of course, as was Le'Veon Bell's touchdown run out of the Wildcat.

The thing is, however, the Steelers should have never been in position to engineer that final drive—at least, they likely wouldn't have if the Chargers weren't so one-dimensional on offense.

The Chargers running game (ranked 20th in the NFL) has not been good this season. It was mostly ineffective again against the Steelers, on a night when better running could have sealed the game. As a team, the Chargers produced just 52 net rushing yards against a Pittsburgh team that had been allowing an average of 113.2 yards per game on the ground. 

Because the running game was so inefficient, the Chargers were forced to throw the ball 48 times. One of those passes resulted in a pick and a Pittsburgh touchdown. At the time, San Diego was driving into Pittsburgh territory and had a touchdown lead.

The last time the Chargers were driving into Pittsburgh territory—their final drive of the night—poorly timed passing again cost the team.

The final three offensive plays San Diego ran were passing plays. Rivers threw three times from the Pittsburgh 38-yard line, completed one pass and move the ball two yards. The Chargers still got their field goal. However, had the Chargers ran three times instead of passing, they likely would have still gotten two yards and could have ran quite a bit more time off the clock.

At minimum, the Chargers should have been able to drain the clock down to the two-minute warning.

The Steelers were cheated out of 18 seconds at the start of their final drive, yet they still scored in 2:38. Had they only had two minutes or less, there might not have been enough time to score.

“’I got to get it in,” Bell told Bernie Wilson of the Associated Press about the end-of-game situation. “We still had a timeout left. I was thinking we still have a timeout left, so I’m thinking, ‘OK, maybe if I get stopped, maybe run like four seconds off and get a timeout and we could kick a field goal. I wanted to end the game right there."

As things stand, the Chargers sit at 2-3 and looking up in the AFC West. 

If San Diego wants to be a playoff team in 2015, the team is going to have to find some sense of balance on offense. As good as Rivers is, it's difficult to consistently win when running the ball is an afterthought. 

How are the Chargers going to fare when the weather turns sour and the team is facing the pass rush from divisional rivals like the Denver Broncos and the Kansas City Chiefs? At this point, every single division game is going to be a must-win. 

The talent at the skill positions is definitely there. In this regard, the Chargers should be able to hang with any opponent. The running backs in San Diego—Melvin Gordon and Danny Woodhead—are talented. They just can't seem to get much going in the running game.

Woodhead is more of a pass-catching specialist, of course, and rookie first-round pick Gordon is supposed to be the power runner. However, he hasn't yet lived up to expectations and seems to have trouble with decisiveness and vision when carrying the ball.

In space, he can make things happen. The same is true with Woodhead. The problem is trying to create space at the point of attack. The Chargers are trying to get Gordon more accustomed to the pro game, but it isn't yielding very positive results. Nathan Jahnke of Pro Football Focus noted Gordon's snap count:

“It’s not just Melvin Gordon,” offensive coordinator Mike McCoy recently said, per Eric D. Williams of ESPN.com. “There are 11 guys on the field that have to do their job. So we need to stop talking just about No. 28. Let’s talk about the entire offense blocking better."

As a team, the Chargers came into Monday night averaging just 3.7 yards per carry. That number dipped to 2.7 yards per carry against Pittsburgh.

As one might expect, the offensive line is a big part of the problem. Players along the line seem to have a very hard time getting any kind of a push downfield in the running game. As a unit, the Chargers line is rated just 22nd in run blocking, by Pro Football Focus.

Whether personnel or scheme is the problem, something is going to have to change. Otherwise, this team is only going to go as far as Rivers and his passing arm can take it—and even his best might not be enough.

Sometimes situational football just calls for running plays. If San Diego can't run the ball when necessary, it's likely to keep losing games like it did on Monday night.