Harbaugh Relives the Chargers 0-5 Collapse He Once Played

Jim Harbaugh said Monday that he and the Spanos family are shoulder to shoulder after the Chargers fell to 0-5. The 23-17 home loss to Denver on Oct. 11 was the franchise’s first 0-5 start since 2003, and it sent Los Angeles to Arrowhead to face a 4-0 Kansas City team coming off a bye.

Harbaugh has been here as a player. He has never been here as a coach.

Harbaugh Puts the Spanos Family in the Same Fight

Asked if ownership was applying pressure, Harbaugh listed the names instead of dodging them. John Spanos, Dean Spanos, Susie Spanos, the whole family, he said, standing with him.

It’s shoulder to shoulder where we’re in this fight together.

Jim Harbaugh, Chargers head coach, Monday news conference

He called himself hellbent on turning it around with a dozen games left. He talked about handling winning and losing with the same heat, and about showing that the group still belongs. The language was familiar Harbaugh, the volume turned up because the record finally required it.

Sunday night he did not have that speech ready. Asked for a message to an 0-5 locker room, he said he did not know what the message was, then told the players to fight their hearts out. Monday he had names, a fight metaphor, and a public hug for the front office. That is a coach buying time after the usual talk ran out.

Eight Straight Losses, a First in His Coaching Life

The Broncos defeat was the Chargers’ eightth loss in a row, counting the three that closed last season. It is the longest losing streak of Harbaugh’s head-coaching career in college or the NFL. His last stretch this ugly came in 2000, when he was still the quarterback.

Los Angeles won at Dallas on Dec. 21, 2025, then dropped a home game to Houston, rested starters in week 18 against Denver, and lost 16-3 at New England in the wild-card round. The 2026 season has not produced a win. Harbaugh is 0-2 in the playoffs with this club after back-to-back 11-6 regular seasons, a 22-12 mark that now sits at 22-17.

THE FIVE LOSSES THAT MADE IT 0-5

1. Sept. 13: Cardinals 26, Chargers 14 at SoFi Stadium.
2. Sept. 20: Raiders 26, Chargers 14 at SoFi Stadium.
3. Sept. 27: Bills 24, Chargers 16 at Buffalo.
4. Oct. 4: Seahawks 30, Chargers 23 at Seattle.
5. Oct. 11: Broncos 23, Chargers 17 at SoFi Stadium.

A week 7 bye follows Kansas City. That pause will not reset the math. Twelve games remain, and the next one is on the road against an unbeaten division rival.

San Diego’s 1-15 Season Was His Last as a Player

Harbaugh spent 14 seasons in the NFL. His last two were in San Diego, and the second of those is the file he is now being asked to coach from. The Chargers went 1-15 in 2000 under Mike Riley, lost their first 11 games, and won once, 17-16 at home over Kansas City, with Harbaugh inactive. He started five games and lost all five, completing 123 of 202 passes for 1,416 yards, eight touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Week 3 of that 0-5 start was a 10-42 loss at Kansas City. Harbaugh was inactive. Three years later, the last Chargers team to open 0-5 finished 4-12 after starting 0-5 under Marty Schottenheimer, with Drew Brees at quarterback and LaDainian Tomlinson in the backfield. That club also opened on the road against the Chiefs and lost 14-27.

The 1992 Chargers remain the only NFL team to reach the playoffs after an 0-4 start, finishing 11-5. No recent 0-5 club has used that story as a map, and Harbaugh’s 2000 team did not either.

CHARGERS 0-5 STARTS IN THREE ERAS

The rhyme is not subtle. When this franchise has opened in a hole, Kansas City has been waiting in it.

Why the Fourth-and-1 Still Ate at Him Monday

Denver led 10-3 at halftime. The Chargers had 74 yards in two quarters. Then Tuli Tuipulotu stripped Bo Nix and recovered the fumble at the Broncos 42, and Kimani Vidal scored on the next snap from 42 yards. Justin Herbert had already hit Hayden Rucci for a 7-yard touchdown, Rucci’s first NFL catch. Los Angeles led 17-10 entering the fourth.

With 10:33 left, Harbaugh went for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 41. Herbert was stuffed on a sneak. Denver drove 41 yards in five plays, and Courtland Sutton scored from 5 yards to tie it. Harbaugh said after the game that when he saw Denver gap down, he felt he should have called timeout and punted. He said he could not think of a time he had been more mad at himself, and he took 100 percent accountability for that call.

Monday he was still on it. He said the two fourth-down decisions, especially that one, did not give his team the best chance to win, and that he does not say he is sorry unless he thinks he is wrong. Herbert put the yard on himself. Khalil Mack said the apology was leadership. The drive chart did not care who claimed it.

HOW THE FOURTH QUARTER GOT AWAY

1. 10:33 left: Fourth-and-1 from the Chargers 41, lead 17-10; Herbert stuffed.
2. 8:53: Bo Nix 5-yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton, tied 17-17.
3. 5:07: Wil Lutz 19-yard field goal after Herbert’s lost fumble, 20-17 Denver.
4. 1:09: Lutz 37-yard field goal after a Herbert interception, 23-17 Denver.
5. Final play: Herbert sacked on the last snap in Denver territory.

The Chargers’ defense had held Denver to 224 yards on 57 plays (3.8 yards per play) and 1-of-12 on third down. Nix threw for 123 yards. Six of Denver’s 13 drives went three-and-out. Both Broncos touchdown drives started from 40 and 41 yards after Chargers mistakes. The unit that kept them in the game never got the ball back with a lead.

Four Rookies on the Line and Almost No Receivers

Harbaugh’s confidence speech keeps running into the medical report. Four rookies started on the offensive line against Denver, three of them in their first NFL starts: Travis Burke at left tackle, Logan Taylor at left guard, and Alex Harkey at right tackle. Jake Slaughter stayed at center and Cole Strange at right guard. Rashawn Slater, Trey Pipkins III and Trevor Penning are on injured reserve. Left guard Kayode Awosika has a fibula injury, is not on IR, and has not practiced in three weeks.

Joe Alt, the starting tackle, has a neck injury from the Seattle game and was set to see a specialist, with more testing this week. Herbert was sacked five times. The young line, he said, did an incredible job given how many new faces were out there. That is a kind review of a night that ended with him on the ground.

WHO IS HURT IN THE SKILL ROOMS

• Ladd McConkey: Active with a foot injury, zero snaps, listed as an emergency; Harbaugh said he could work back into practice before Sunday.
• Quentin Johnston: Inactive with a chest injury; likely limited again in practice.
• Tre’ Harris: Played 30 snaps, then a hamstring injury, week-to-week.
• Brenen Thompson: Quad injury, still working into practice.
• Joe Alt: Neck injury, specialist visit and further testing.
• Kayode Awosika: Fibula, healing off IR, no practice for three weeks.

Marquez Valdes-Scantling led the wideouts with two catches for 22 yards on three targets. Theo Wease had one catch for 16. The first- and second-string receivers are all dealing with something. Harbaugh said the ones who are in there are competing. They are also thin.

Justin Herbert Has Harbaugh’s Full Backing After Seven Picks

Herbert completed 14 of 24 for 121 yards, one touchdown and one interception against Denver, ran six times for 54 yards, and lost a fumble while trying to throw the ball away. Harbaugh compared that fumble to an earlier play when Herbert escaped a sack in the end zone. He said he would not tell Herbert to compete any other way, because the way he competes is like few others he has seen.

The season line is harder to bless. Herbert is 85 of 143 (59.4 percent) for 937 yards, five touchdowns and seven interceptions, with 17 sacks and a 70.2 passer rating. He has 142 rushing yards on 24 carries and nine turnovers, the seven picks plus two lost fumbles. Pro Football Focus has him at a 41.7 overall grade, last among 36 qualified quarterbacks.

HERBERT THROUGH FIVE GAMES

• The throws: 85 of 143, 937 yards, five touchdowns, seven interceptions, 70.2 rating.
• The sacks: 17, including five against Denver.
• The turnovers: Nine, seven interceptions and two lost fumbles.
• The grade: 41.7 PFF overall, 36th of 36 qualifying quarterbacks.

Harbaugh spent last offseason saying Herbert would be remembered as the best to play the position. Five weeks into 2026, that clip is doing the rounds for a different reason. The coach still will not move off him, and the roster around him is not giving him much cover.

Herbert’s own read was flatter. He said it was not where they wanted to be, and that they have to do whatever they can to win games because they have not been doing that. Safety Tony Jefferson said they really wanted the Denver game. Tuipulotu said it is easy to fold at 0-5 and that they cannot.

Kansas City Gets the 0-5 Chargers off a Bye

Sunday’s game at Arrowhead is at 4:25 p.m. ET. Kansas City is 4-0 and just had a bye. It is the first of two meetings this season. Harbaugh said his players are determined to get the year turned around. Determination is not a coverage scheme, and it is not a healthy left tackle.

The 2000 Chargers, with Harbaugh on the roster, went to Kansas City during an 0-5 start and lost 10-42. The 2003 Chargers opened the season there and lost 14-27. This team arrives in the same hole, against a Chiefs club that has not lost, with a quarterback who has seven interceptions and a line that started four rookies a week ago.

Harbaugh has the owners on the record with him. He has a locker room that is still talking about fight. He also has a personal history with this franchise at 0-5, and that history does not end with a speech. It ends, in both of the last two cases, with Kansas City already in the way.