This season is over. We're not making the playoffs; we probably won't win 5 games.

Is the offense working? No. Is the offense an unmitigated disaster of truly unimaginable proportions? Yes.

But as Harbaugh said in an interview two weeks ago when asked whether McDaniel's job is in jeopardy, "he's a skilled coach." There's a reason he was the hottest OC candidate on the market after being released by the Dolphins. There's a reason people thought he would get another HC job and therefore might not even be an OC candidate.

It's possible that McDaniel was overrated, figured out by the league, a fraud, etc. I don't deny that. But it's also possible that he did a bad job *this time* and is still the same coach that everyone (including on this sub - and admittedly myself included) wanted during the offseason as their OC. He still has a track record of innovation and creativity - such that I don't view a single failure (as monumental as it has been) as indicative of future returns. And if we need to scrap the entire offense and rebuild, it's possible that having seen how this offense failed, McDaniel would produce something better the second time.

I hope that's what they are up to this week during the bye - essentially a tear-down and rebuild. I would give McDaniel the second half of the season to turn things around because what good will firing him now do? We would turn the offense over to Adam Gase. Given the next chance to rebuild the Chargers offense from the ground up, is McDaniel or Gase more likely to succeed? Kyle Shanahan went 6-10 and 4-12 in his first two seasons in SF. Sometimes patience is rewarded. It's not a likely outcome, but if McDaniel's next offense (whether it's for the Chargers or another team) is successful, nobody would be shocked.

Again, this season is over. We can wait to fire McDaniel until the end of the season because what is there to lose?

The things that would change my mind generally fall into two buckets - (1) what is there to lose and (2) what is there to gain?

There may be something to lose. For example, if people believe that this system is doing long-term, irreparable damage to Justin Herbert, you have to pull the plug and limit the damage. I have no reason to believe that, as uncomfortable as Herbert has been, he couldn't bounce back from this in a competent operation.

There may also be nothing to gain. If Herbert flat out doesn't like or respect McDaniel, even if McDaniel is a good coach, it doesn't work. It's oil and water and there's no mixing it. If that's the case, there is nothing to gain from keeping McDaniel and you might as well see what you've got with Gase.

But absent those sorts of scenarios, I see no reason for the remainder of the season not to bet on McDaniel vs. the alternatives we have available to us.

[Noah Furtado]

My grades:

Alt - A

Ladd - A

Colson - F

Egoibe - D

Still - A

Hart - B

Vidal - B

Rice - F

Johnson - F

Total Draft Grade: B

I give Hortiz zero mark downs in my total grade for missing on Rice and Johnson, those are flyer picks. Missing completely on Colson though brings down what should be a stellar class to good.

What are your grades?

I think you can genuinely make a case that he may have even broke Drew Brees 80k and became the second highest passing yard leader of all time and therefore a surefire HOF lock

How crazy would that have been?

Here’s a look at the current roster, practice squad, IR, and depth chart heading into the bye week!

Jeremiah Smith can save it all, right?

Pretty good summary of the offensive woes