What Do the San Diego Chargers Need To Fix Heading into Week 2?

Many people's preseason pick for the Super Bowl, the San Diego Chargers stumbled out of the blocks in Week 1 when they surprisingly fell to their divisional rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chargers looked far from a team poised to make a run at the Super Bowl. Although it is early days, here are a few things the Chargers need to fix if they want to compete this year.

Special Teams

The Chargers' coverage on punts was awful against the Chiefs. Dexter McCluster's 94-yard touchdown on a punt return was a gamechanger and put the Chiefs up 21-7 before halftime. On top of that, fellow rookie Javier Arenas had punt returns of 24 and 36 yards.

That is simply not good enough and the Chargers must do a better job of getting down the field on punts, taking the correct angles and wrapping up on tackles. The Chargers also had opportunities to pin the Chiefs deep after advancing into Chiefs territory and failing to convert third downs.

Mike Scifres is usually the master at pinning opponents, deep but failed to do so. When the Chargers were returning punts, I thought Sproles could have done a better job and fielded more punts. In a league where field position is key, these are areas the Chargers need to pay attention to.

Rush Defense

After being dumped out of the playoffs by the New York Jets last year because of a leaky rush defense, the Chargers showed no signs of improvement here. Jamal Charles and Thomas Jones combined for 131 yards on 22 attempts on Monday night. Fifty-six of these yards came on a big play from Jamal Charles, where he was barely touched.

The Chargers defense must be more physical, and the defensive line must be more stout at the point of attack and get a better push. The Chargers organization seemed to like Antonio Garay and Ogemdi Nwagbuo enough to get rid of massive nose tackle Jamal Williams, and they must step up to start clogging up some running lanes.

The pass defense seems fine, so if the Chargers can tighten up its rush defense they will be in good shape.

Scoring

If you look at the stats from the Chiefs game, its hard to believe the Chargers lost. The Chargers amassed 389 total yards and held onto the ball for more than 37 minutes, but only put up 14 points.

The offense needs to be more clinical and put up more points. Several times the Chargers marched into Chiefs territory only for the drive to be halted. They need to take advantage of the momentum and go back to the high powered offense they were last season.

Vincent Jackson/Marcus McNeill

The two holdouts, Jackson and McNeill, are two of the Chargers' best players. The uncertainty over their futures can't be good thing for the team. With the Vincent Jackson trade rumors flying around the Chargers need to be decisive and either offload him, or put their morals aside and sign him to a new deal.

To win games, you have to have your best players on the field, and Jackson and McNeill's absence against the Chiefs may have been the reason for the spluttering offense. I bet the Chargers wish they had VJ on that 4th-and-6 play when they were knocking on the Chiefs' door late on.

One thing the Chargers must not do is panic. They have started poorly the past three seasons and always seem to pull it together later in the season. They face the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday and they must be wary of running back Maurice Jones-Drew.

If the Chargers can fix these problems, a win will boost confidence and also hopefully persuade fans to buy tickets so they can avoid a blackout in their next home game.