It Took Half a Season as Chargers OC for Mike McDaniel to Find Himself on Hot Seat

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I have to admit, as much as I had very little faith in Mike McDaniel's sort of Summer Camp Counselor approach to NFL head coaching, one that was shared by some of his former players:

But I never doubted his skills when it came to calling an offense. Being an offensive coordinator is a totally different interpersonal dynamic. Being the voice in your quarterback's helmet is less like being a general, and more like being the non-commissioned officer. It gives you more latitude to be a buddy to the men under your command. To offer them care and comfort in the toughest moments. Less Patton and more Sgt. Lipton in Band of Brothers. 

And obviously the few fans Chargers have, like KenJac, were fully on board with the idea of McDaniel being the voice in Justin Herbert's helmet radio:

"Trouble." You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Because the one who's in trouble is McDaniels himself:

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I did not see this coming. At least not this soon. If you'll forgive me for measuring time like an aging Boomer suburban dad, we're not even to "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" Day yet, and already people around the Chargers are in full on, 5-alarm panic mode:

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Bolts Beat -  The Chargers had two weeks to prepare for the Rams offensively. And while there were moments of offensive competence in the first half, the game swung away from the Chargers once again as it went on. …

Several questionable play calls by Mike McDaniel left points on the board. The game effectively ended with a quick slant well short of the sticks to TE Oronde Gadsden II. The run game was a disaster and Herbert looked as he did before the bye in terms of turnovers. …

It did not look like a group that did much of any introspection or soul-searching over the BYE week. The four hour film session during the bye between OC Mike McDaniel and Herbert did not help. It begs the question—why continue any of this? Why should McDaniel continue to call plays for the worst offense in the league? Why enable a system that continues to make Herbert look worse each week? Why have the other players in the offense continue to lose confidence? 

And they're putting McDaniels slender, tapered leg-trousered ass on the hottest seat in the league:

Bleacher Report - [H]ere's a hot seat check for five struggling NFL coordinators heading into Week 9 …

At this point in the Los Angeles Chargers' abysmal season, Mike McDaniel should feel fortunate to still have a job. Things have gone from bad (losing the opener against the Arizona Cardinals) to unfathomably awful (scoring just 15 points over the last two games) in the span of just two months. …

The primary concern for L.A. during this collapse should be quarterback Justin Herbert's regression from fringe Pro Bowler to a borderline unstartable passer. If he continues to lose confidence, it's possible Herbert won't ever be able to regain the form he displayed earlier in his career. 

Herbert has completed just 61.8 percent of his throws this year and is now averaging fewer than 200 yards per game while leading the league with 10 interceptions. …

[I]t appears the Bolts will be sticking with McDaniel for a little longer … but the offensive coordinator's tenure looks unlikely to extend beyond the start of the 2027 offseason unless the offense improves dramatically. 

Seat Temperature: Burning Hot 

It's sad. Truly. For him to go from the darling of the NFL - the Wunderkind, the Boy Genius, the Chosen One, the Tech CEO who could relate to his Gen-Z players and was going to reinvent coaching - to being back on the hot seat so soon. All the excuses of why things didn't work out in Miami have been removed. He inherited a middle of the road offense (20th in points, 19th in passer rating) and has driven it off a cliff in less than half a season. He got to replace Tua Tagovailoa with Herbert, who was Top 10 in the league in practically every passing category, and made him into a denuded husk of a QB. And we're not even halfway through the season. 

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They say you can't fire the whole team.And for sure, you can't fire the quarterback's girlfriend that some people are blaming:

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 And when you can't fire the head coach, you fire the coordinator. Unless things change, and soon, that seems to be Mike McDaniel's fate. You hate to see it.