Following the AFC Divisional Round loss to their rival, the San Diego Chargers is a team that, many would say, overachieved. They overachieved on both sides of the ball starting with their charismatic leader Philip Rivers. Rivers experienced a rebirth under first year head coach Mike McCoy, offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt, and quarterbacks coach Frank Reich. The Chargers ran more of an uptempo, yet time consuming, no huddle offense. The Chargers had one of the best offensive units thanks to players like Keenan Allen, Ryan Mathews, Danny Woodhead, Ledarius Green, and Antonio Gates. They also found some stability in a shaky offensive line with players like DJ Fluker and Nick Hardwick being the anchors along the line. On defense, John Pagano did an admirable job calling plays and making sure that defense got hot during the right time. The defense struggled early on, but Eric Weddle and Donald Butler got that group of 11 guys to play cohesively as they began to force turnovers and cause sacks.
There are a lot of areas that need to be addressed for this Chargers organization during this upcoming offseason. They have to get more stability along the offensive line through the draft or free agency. San Diego has to find another playmaker to play opposite of Keenan Allen. They can wait and see if Danario Alexander and Malcom Floyd can be of service to them coming off season ending injuries. The Chargers have to find a pass rusher opposite of Melvin Ingram and get some help in that secondary while finding a way to keep Butler at linebacker. This team has a lot of needs and it will be interesting to see how owner Alex Spanos and general manager Tom Telesco handle them.
On a positive note, San Diego was one of the big surprises of the NFL season. They went from a, dead in the water, 5-7 record to a 9-7 playoff team. They had some bad losses early on against Houston, Tennessee, Washington, and Oakland. Three out of those four losses were close games and could have been due to McCoy trying to find his way as a first time NFL head coach. He helped revive the careers of Rivers and Mathews while making sure the Chargers never quit. Sunday's final game against Denver epitomized that never quit mentality. The Chargers accomplished a lot this season and have to be happy, but they cannot become complacent with this year's success. They have to find a way to improve on both sides of the ball and take that next step. Especially, with an aging quarterback in Rivers.
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