The Buffalo Bills rose as the latest to fire up the Los Angeles Chargers critics. Quarterback Justin Herbert endured a frustrating afternoon, and the Bolts dropped to 0-3 Sunday. Now head coach Jim Harbaugh has made a “painful” admission.
“We did not win the game, and it's painful,” Harbaugh shared with reporters after taking the 24-16 road loss.
This loss witnessed more of the same from the Bolts during 2026: Inconsistency, costly turnovers and the defense getting exposed.
So what hands Harbaugh any kind of hope of a turnaround?
“What gives me hope is the people,” Harbaugh said in referring to his roster. “There's no denying the want-to and the fight is there. And that's building. They're chipping at that.”
Yet Harbaugh dropped one more admission.
“No question, we haven't been good enough yet,” Harbaugh said.
Coach Jim Harbaugh is feeling the disappointment of the Chargers’ rough start to the season pic.twitter.com/rO8fMfkWAe
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 27, 2026
The Chargers even squandered a lead inside Highmark Stadium. Buffalo trailed 13-10 before outscoring LAC 14-3 the rest of the afternoon. The Bills also picked off Herbert, which Fox color commentator and NFL legend Tom Brady called a “meatball sub” of a throw from Herbert.
LAC tallied 348 total yards including 217 through the air. Buffalo dropped Herbert for two sacks in the contest. The Chargers struggled in converting their third downs too, hitting just 6-of-15 during those conversions. And the Bolts delivered a stronger time of possession with 31:22 compared to the Bills' 28:38.
Worse for the Chargers was their failure to capitalize on Buffalo's mistakes. Los Angeles forced five takeaways including picking off quarterback Josh Allen twice. But Allen countered by scoring two rushing touchdowns to help make the difference.