By james art By JOE REEDY
Jim Harbaugh brought a lot of enthusiasm to the Los Angeles Chargers.
The one thing he hasn’t been able to eliminate, however, is the team’s uncanny ability to take losses in heartbreaking fashion, also known as “reloading.”
Monday night’s 17-15 loss to the Arizona Cardinals was the sixth time since the Chargers moved to Los Angeles in 2017 that they lost in the final game of regulation and 12th, including overtime.
Harbaugh hopes this loss will put “steel in the spine” instead of adding more negativity to a team familiar with close losses.
“The things that form a callus. It has a taste in the mouth,” Harbaugh said. “As Nelson Mandela said, ‘I don’t lose, or win, or learn.'” To me, that means let’s make sure we learn from the things that happen and let that make us better. As opposed to any kind of deviation or anything other than that, so we do that.”
Two areas where the Chargers (3-3) need to make immediate improvements are red zone offense and better fourth-quarter performance.
The offense is five of 13 in scoring touchdowns when inside the opponent’s 20-yard line. The 38.5% success rate is the third lowest in the league.
“We’ve got to do a good job of playing the way the game needs to be played, not the way we want to play,” said quarterback Justin Herbert, who passed for a season-high 349 yards. “We moved the ball well. We did our best. We ran some third downs. But when it matters most, we have to be able to go out there and execute and score on those shots.”
It also means a better performance in the last 15 minutes. Since scoring a pair of touchdowns and rallying for a 22-10 win over Las Vegas in Week 1, the Chargers haven’t reached the end zone in the fourth quarter and have been outscored 43-9 in their last five games.
On Monday night, Herbert had his 26th career 300-yard passing game, but he is 13-13 in those games.
“If we’re spreading the ball around and controlling all aspects of the field, I think that’s huge for our offense. But there’s a lot to improve on and we’re looking forward to this week’s challenge,” said Herbert.
The passing game. Herbert completed passes to nine players for the second straight game, with seven having at least one catch for at least 14 yards. Herbert was especially effective on first downs, completing 13 of 16 passes for 125 yards.
Containing fumbling quarterbacks. Kyler Murray’s 44-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter was the second-longest drive the Chargers have allowed since 2000. That came a week after Denver’s Bo Nix had 61 yards on six carries.
Cameron Dicker had his second five-goal game with the Chargers. The third-year player also tied a franchise record when he was good from 59 yards on his first attempt.
WR Jalen Reagor was about to score a 44-yard touchdown on the opening drive when he fumbled at the Cardinals’ 3-yard line. Arizona quarterback Jalen Thompson returned the ball in the end zone.
LB Joey Bosa missed his third straight game with a hip injury. WR DJ Chark (hip) will begin his second week of practice since opening the season on injured reserve. … WR Quentin Johnston (ankle) was inactive.
68 — Games it took Herbert to reach 1,700 completions. Herbert is the fastest player to reach the milestone, with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes holding the previous mark of 69 games.
The Chargers host New Orleans on Sunday, starting a streak that includes four of Los Angeles’ next five games at home.
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AP NFL: