Mike McDaniel was hired as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator for the 2026 season with a simple goal in mind.
Justin Herbert has not won a playoff game in his six seasons as the team’s starting quarterback and the team wants to maximize the window of opportunity that they believe having a quarterback like Herbert has given the organization. McDaniel’s history says that it usually takes a couple of years for his offensive philosophy to result in major success, but this is a different situation for McDaniel and he said on Monday that his goal is to have “Year 2 results in Year 1.”
McDaniel has hope that can happen because Herbert is “far past” where other quarterbacks have been at this point in the process. He credited Herbert with “intentionally working at the craft every day” to set himself up for immediate success in the offense.
“He’s been everything that I’d hoped and more in that regard,” McDaniel said. “We’re just finding different things to add to his game each and every day to put the best foot forward in Week 1.”
The depth of the AFC West and the AFC in general means that the Chargers will need to be firing on all cylinders out of the gate to make it back to the playoffs. McDaniel’s comments on Monday suggest Herbert is positioned to do that and the focus will then move to sustaining a high level of play all the way into the postseason.
