This much we know: The Chargers<\/a> had precious few highlights Thursday night and a landslide of lowlights, resulting in a 41-17 loss<\/a> to the San Francisco 49ers at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n On designed runs, the Chargers gained 1.8 yards per carry. They converted two of 14 third downs. Their defense surrendered five touchdowns, including an 83-yard punt return.<\/p>\n The only two statistical categories in which they had an edge: More penalties and more punts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe got outplayed and we beat ourselves in all three phases,\u201d Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh<\/a> said. \u201cIt\u2019s not going to go well when those two things occur.\u201d<\/p>\n Harbaugh was understandably subdued, especially on the heels of a more encouraging performance in a preseason opener at Houston. But this was a preseason game, a time to work out the many wrinkles, and the Chargers have more than three weeks before they open the regular season at home against Arizona.<\/p>\n Still, there are significant hurdles to overcome. For one, they have lost their center to a knee injury, likely for the season. Tyler Biadasz suffered a serious injury<\/a> to his anterior cruciate ligament in practice this week, and the prognosis sounds bleak.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, it\u2019s an ACL,\u201d Harbaugh confirmed after the game. \u201cDoesn\u2019t look promising. We don\u2019t \u2014 we\u2019re not putting a label on it right now, and we\u2019ll make a decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Moving into the starting center job will be rookie Jake Slaughter<\/a>, a second-round pick who played that position at Florida.<\/p>\n Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh walks on the field with his players during a preseason loss to the 49ers at SoFi Stadium on Thursday night.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Slaughter doesn\u2019t sound overwhelmed about being thrust into the starting role.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d say we\u2019re behind,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of a catch-up period there, but I felt good about everything in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n He played nine snaps on Thursday and watched the rest of the game from the sideline. It\u2019s understandable that the Chargers only wanted light duty from him, considering they slogged through a brutal 2025 season when they lost their two outstanding tackles and endured a revolving door along the offensive line throughout the year.<\/p>\n Left tackle Rashawn Slater<\/a> is dealing with a flare up of his surgically repaired knee and missed practices this week. The Chargers lost him to a knee injury in training camp last summer.<\/p>\n As is common throughout the NFL, lots of Chargers starters were merely spectators for the second of three preseason games. Among those who didn\u2019t dress for the game were Slater and right tackle Joe Alt, linebackers Khalil Mack<\/a> and Akheem Mesidor<\/a> (their 2026 first-round pick), cornerback Donte Jackson and All-Pro safety Derwin James.<\/p>\n Here are some more observations from the Chargers\u2019 preseason loss to the 49ers:<\/p>\n Trey Lance shows off Chargers quarterback Trey Lance scrambles against the 49ers in the first half Thursday.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n As he did in Houston, quarterback Trey Lance turned in a respectable performance \u2014 this time against the franchise that drafted him third overall in 2020.<\/p>\n His splashiest play Thursday was a 37-yard scramble through the middle of the San Francisco defense. The 49ers were in man-to-man coverage and lost track of the Chargers quarterback.<\/p>\n Lance ran to the six before he was dragged down. The Chargers were unable to cross the goal line from there, however, and walked off the field with a field goal. Lance completed 10 of 16 passes for 73 yards.<\/p>\n Justin Herbert started the game, but he and the rest of the starters played just one series, a three-and-out. DJ Uiagalelei completed seven of 15 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n Brenen Thompson exits with injury<\/p>\n Chargers rookie receiver Brenen Thompson made some headlines after the joint practice with the 49ers, saying of the San Francisco defense \u201cwe tore them up.\u201d He had two touchdown catches in those sessions.<\/p>\n Two days later, the fourth-round pick found himself in the blue medical tent. Trainers were looking at Thompson in the opening quarter Thursday night, ultimately walking him to the locker room.<\/p>\n Forgive the Chargers if they wince. Thompson is the backup to Quentin Johnston, who limped off the practice field with an apparent leg injury this week and didn\u2019t dress for the preseason game.<\/p>\n Thompson ran the 40 in a blistering 4.26 seconds, tying him for the fastest at the 2026 combine and the third-fastest time by a wide receiver at the combine since 2003.<\/p>\n In the second quarter, offensive lineman Branson Taylor left the game with a shoulder issue. He has been battling for the starting job at left guard.<\/p>\n Positives and negatives San Francisco cornerback Darrell Luter Jr., right, breaks up a pass intended for Chargers wide receiver Dalevon Campbell on Thursday.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Even though the Chargers ranked a middle-of-the-pack 17th in net punting average last season, JK Scott garnered more respect than that. Pro Football Focus ranked him fourth in a grading system that factors in hang time, directional placement and situational execution.<\/p>\n Scott played that way against the 49ers, pinning them deep in their territory more than once. He was his team\u2019s most effective weapon until Lance had his big carry midway through the second quarter.<\/p>\n But the punt play folks will remember was the 84-yard return for a touchdown by San Francisco\u2019s Jacob Cowing, who blew past Scott and the rest of the coverage team. (In fairness, Scott was taken out by an apparent block in the back that wasn\u2019t flagged.) What was called was an unsportsmanlike penalty on 49ers tackle Trent Williams, who came off the bench to celebrate the return.<\/p>\n As for kicking, Cameron Dicker is typically automatic on extra points, but he missed one after linebacker Junior Colson scored on an interception return in the third quarter.<\/p>\n Still a work in progress Chargers offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel walks the sideline before Thursday\u2019s preseason game.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n There were some wince-worthy coverage breakdowns for the Chargers pass defense, and particularly at corner. The club didn\u2019t make any big moves in that department in the offseason, nor did it draft any cornerbacks. <\/p>\n It\u2019s clear the Chargers are still figuring out Mike McDaniel\u2019s offense, and the new offensive coordinator wasn\u2019t even getting exotic. <\/p>\n Three times in the first half, the home team saw big gains wiped out by mental errors. First, a fairly deep pass to running back Keaton Mitchell for 21 yards was nullified by an illegal formation. Then, an illegal shift scrubbed an 18-yard catch and carry by Oronde Gadsden II. Finally, another illegal formation brought back an 11-yard run by Lance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to know how much stock to put in an NFL preseason game. Twenty years ago, the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1014590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[19586,1582,276,7151,26600,405939,21370,2961,53886,224,5337,33760,76752,4158,177645,5613,8603,6620,2452,80883],"class_list":["post-1014589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-49er","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-chargers","tag-jake-slaughter","tag-jk-scott","tag-knee-injury","tag-la","tag-lance","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-practice","tag-preseason-game","tag-return","tag-san-francisco-49er","tag-second","tag-thompson","tag-time","tag-week","tag-yard"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117132640158612989","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1014590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Chargers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787302100_120_.jpeg\")
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