Harbaugh wants to help QB Justin Herbert with strong run game

LOS ANGELES -- For the past four seasons, the success of the Los Angeles Chargers has largely depended solely on the right arm of quarterback Justin Herbert.

On many occasions, that strategy has been effective.

In week 3 of the 2023 season, for instance, he threw the ball 47 times for 405 yards and three touchdowns as the Chargers escaped with a four-point win over the Minnesota Vikings. Against the Chicago Bears in Week 8, he threw the ball 40 times for three touchdowns and 298 yards in a 30-13 win.

Then there are the games where the lean-on-Herbert tactic isn't as effective, even when he has the stats. Against the Detroit Lions in Week 10, he threw 40 times for 323 yards and four touchdowns, but the Chargers lost 38-31. Herbert's 39.1 passing attempts per game are the highest average in NFL history.

Ultimately, this style of offense -- one that has been reliant on passing, and ignored or tried and failed to have a running game -- has had the Chargers stuck in mediocrity.

Coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff plan to change this trend quickly, with an offense whose stars are its offensive line. They plan to lean on their running backs to keep defenses puzzled and make Herbert's life easier. It's the only kind of offense that Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman has operated. That offense won Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson a unanimous MVP award in the 2019 season and led Harbaugh and the San Francisco 49ers to three NFC Championships when he was the head coach from 2011 to 2014.

"Not everyone needs to function like Peyton Manning did to win football games," said run game coordinator and tight ends coach Andy Bischoff. (Manning's 9,380 attempts are the fourth highest in NFL history).

Instead, Bischoff, who coached with Roman in Baltimore, said the Chargers will strive for a "balanced offense that brings out the greatest strengths in everyone on the unit."

To achieve the balanced offense Bischoff envisions, the most important players are the offensive line.

"This offense -- and this building -- is an O-line-centric space," Bischoff said. "When it comes to our strength program, it's built around the O-line. Everybody else fall in line. Some people don't value offensive linemen. We do.

"This is a place where O-linemen are going to want to come and play ... We're going to raise these guys up and make them feel great about what they do and what they have to offer and not push them to the side and make them the afterthought. They are at the forefront of our thinking."

That mindset has drawn players with the same qualities Bischoff looks for in offensive linemen -- strong, physical, willing to hit -- to the Chargers. It's why running back Gus Edwards, and tight ends Hayden Hurst and Will Dissly signed with L.A. and mentioned "physical" an innumerable amount of times in their introductory news conferences.

"The guys that we have been bringing in as of late, that's what everybody has in common," Edwards said of the physical mindset of the Chargers latest signees.

Edwards scored a career-high 13 touchdowns with the Ravens last season, often by bulldozing defenders when the Ravens got into the red zone. He played under Roman for four seasons in Baltimore, and the chance to be a "downhill" runner playing behind a dominant offensive line again is what drew him to L.A.

"I love this scheme, the way that [Roman] schemes everything up," Edwards said, "and just the whole mindset -- the physicality -- I really like."

The way in which Chargers coaches have spoken about their offense since Harbaugh became head coach often gives the impression that their $260 million quarterback is somewhat of an afterthought. But that's largely because the staff knows they have one of the league's best at the position.

Roman, Harbaugh and Bischoff are eager to imagine how Herbert will evolve when defenses have to game-plan for a dominant rushing offense, which he has never had.

Still, the Chargers' passing offense is perhaps the team's biggest mystery. L.A. lost tight end Gerald Everett, running back Austin Ekeler, and receivers Keenan Allen and Mike Williams. Those four players made up 57% of Herbert's completions, pass yards and passing touchdowns.

The team hired passing coordinator Marcus Brady, who coached with the Eagles last season as a senior offensive assistant, to guide their passing offense. But the Chargers have just four receivers on the roster: Quentin Johnston, Joshua Palmer, Derius Davis and Simi Fehoko. None of those receivers have a 1,000-yard season in their career.

Brady admittedly isn't sure how the Chargers passing offense will operate yet. He expects the team to have a better idea as it fills out the receiving room following the draft and the remainder of the offseason.

"Right now, it's just about learning the terminology and learning to be able to communicate with each other about the plays," Brady said. "We're kind of getting more into our identity and who we're going to be as we continue to grow."