To say that the Los Angeles Chargers have had a bad start to the 2026 NFL season would be a massive understatement.
For the second week in a row, the Chargers were upset 26-14 by a heavy underdog at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Calif. The Chargers lost to the Las Vegas Raiders during Sunday’s Week 2 clash, a week after suffering the same fate against the Arizona Cardinals.
The Chargers losing their first two games to start the season is bad enough. But to do so by double digits against teams projected to stink entering the season made things even worse for the Bolts.
With Sunday’s loss, the Chargers became the second team ever to start a season 0-2 in back-to-back home games against teams that had a sub-.200 winning percentage the previous year. The only other time it happened was in 1926.
The Chargers are the second team in NFL history to lose back-to-back games by double digits with both coming at home against teams that had a sub-.200 win pct the previous season.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) September 21, 2026
The other was the 1926 Racine Tornadoes (Oct. 10-17), who played just one more game before folding.
The Raiders and Cardinals both finished 3-14 (.176) last season in what turned into a race to the bottom for the right to draft Fernando Mendoza.
Raiders veteran Kirk Cousins showed Mendoza how to slice a defense at the NFL level Sunday, dissecting the Chargers’ defense for 253 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Chargers QB Justin Herbert had his second straight lackluster performance in the loss, posting a 15/27 passing clip for 192 yards, a touchdown, and 2 interceptions. But at least Madison Beer was there to comfort him after the game.
