Chargers playoff hopes take hit after ‘unacceptable’ blowout loss

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers must turn the page quickly after an ugly Week 15 performance that left members of the defense pissed off.

“This (expletive) can’t happen again. It’s unacceptable,” Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley said to USA TODAY Sports. “We just wasn’t at our standard. So, what went wrong is that we just wasn’t at our standard, whether it was a mindset, a feeling of energy, or whatever it was, we just didn’t hold up our standard. And that’s really what it was.”

Behind a dominant second-half surge, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers steamrolled the Chargers, 40-17. Tampa Bay scored 27 unanswered points in the second half after trailing 17-13 at halftime. The 40 points are the most the Chargers’ top-ranked scoring defense has given up all season.

Bucs quarterback Baker Mayfield passed for 288 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. Mayfield’s four touchdowns tied a season-high. Two of Mayfield’s touchdown passes were caught by star wide receiver Mike Evans who compiled a season-high nine catches, 159 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Bucs running back Bucky Irving produced 117 of Tampa Bay’s 222 yards on the ground.

“Games like this pisses you off a little bit,” Chargers outside linebacker Khalil Mack said. “Just understand what we want to do as a group. This wasn’t close to it. But kudos to them, kudos to the Bucs.”

NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.

The Chargers’ four-point halftime advantage quickly sank into the Pacific Ocean in what turned out to be a lopsided second half. Mayfield and the Bucs offense scored on five straight possessions in the second half. Conversely, the Chargers offense struggled to extend drives and get first downs. Tampa Bay outgained Los Angeles 304 to 64 in total yards in the second half. The Chargers finished the entire contest 0-6 on third downs.

“We didn’t play well enough (and) we didn’t coach well enough,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “It was pretty thorough, very thorough. Now we’re staring at that adversity. It’s how we respond.”

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert completed 21 of 33 passes for 195 yards to go with two touchdowns, and he threw his first interception since Week 2, snapping his 11-game streak without a pick.

“It’s tough,” Herbert said. “We got beat (Sunday). We got beat badly. We have to do everything we can to learn from it, and not let this one affect our next one.”

Los Angeles will have to rebound quickly from their blowout loss. The team is set to host the Denver Broncos on Thursday night in an AFC battle with big playoff implications.

The Broncos, who beat the Indianapolis Colts 31-13 on Sunday, are currently in the AFC’s sixth seed, and the Chargers occupy the seventh and final seed in the AFC playoffs race. The winner of Week 16’s tilt will control the tiebreaker, plus own possession of the sixth spot with only two regular-season games remaining.

Los Angeles still controls its own playoff destiny. They have an 87% chance to reach the postseason, according to NFL Next Gen Stats. But the Chargers must get back to the drawing board and respond quickly if they want to clinch a postseason berth in Harbaugh’s first year as head coach.

“What do we want this season to be? It’s quote, unquote, a rebuild. But we ain’t never settle for that. For us, this is we want to make a playoff stance, and so we have to do that right now. We have the opportunity,” Henley said. “We have three winnable games, and we have a conference opponent coming up.”