After a two-game skid, some teams may use their bye week to lick their wounds or at least get some extra rest. But that isn’t the sense we get from Jim Harbaugh’s Monday afternoon press conference. When asked how he decides on what to do with the bye week, Harbaugh said it depends on when it falls. For the 2024 Los Angeles Chargers, they pulled the short straw of having their bye fall on the first week available, Week 5.
For Harbaugh, it has arrived right on time.
Chargers Look To Go From Good To Great During Week 5 Bye
“It’s an early bye, it’s a Week 5 bye,” Harbaugh said. “I think it’s a good thing for where we are now and when it comes. When it comes this early, getting the team back refreshed, but also taking advantage of the things we need to get better at. There’s that element of work together, get it to the point of where we want it. Where it’s good, great (and) where it needs to be. As a function of bye week, I would call it ‘opportunity week.’ Opportunity to improve in areas that we need it.”
What will the Chargers be working on? That he did not go into, but given the struggles from the 17-10 loss against the Kansas City Chiefs and the 10-point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, it should be second-half game planning. The team has failed to score a point in the second half in those two games.
“Both last two games, two games that we’ve lost, we haven’t been at our best in the fourth quarter when our best was needed,” Harbaugh said.
Penalties ought to be high on that list as well. They committed nine against the Chiefs alone.
Ultimately, Harbaugh believes the Chargers are very close to going from good to great. Perhaps the bye…I mean, Opportunity Week is just what this team needs to take that leap. Or maybe it is a high-end wide receiver.
