Chargers’ Khalil Mack doesn’t hold back his frustrations after the loss to the Bucs

On December 20, 2024By Littum

The LA Chargers were handed their first true drubbing of the Jim Harbaugh era on Sunday via the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a promising first half, the Chargers were outclassed by the Bucs, giving LA a true wake-up call as the season reaches its most important stretch.

The most disappointing aspect of the loss was easily how the defense crumbled against this Buccaneers team. Tampa Bay scored 40 points and put up 500 yards of offense against what was no. 1 scoring defense in the NFL.

After looking up many bad offenses and bad quarterbacks, many Chargers fans are now questioning how good this defense really is or if it’s just a byproduct of a fortune scheme.

Khalil Mack joined Chargers fans in their frustrations with the defensive play in Week 15. Mack was pretty picky about the team’s performance on the defensive side of the ball, saying how “pissed” he was with the result.

Khalil Mack on why today’s game pissed him off:

“When you let a team rush for 200 yards, it always does something to me … It’s almost like you’re disrespecting the game when a team is able to rush for 200 yards against you.”

— Kris Rhim (@krisrhim1) December 16, 2024

Khalil Mack says the Chargers were so bad against the Buccaneers that they disrespected the football

Practice Football is sacred to many, and Mack saying the Chargers disrespected the entire game is not a light comment. This is a veteran who is unhappy with his performance and unhappy with how the team played.

It’s impossible to blame Mack, though, as Sunday’s game was truly awful on several fronts. Whether it was the rushing attack that put up over 200 yards or Baker Mayfield looking like an MVP candidate, the Chargers had absolutely no answer for Tampa Bay.

It is worth mentioning that no matter how upset with Mack, he is one of the leaders on the team who can change things going forward. This is not to say that Sunday was entirely Mack’s fault, but the only people who can change the outcome are those in the locker room. And it starts with Mack.

The thing is, the defensive line hasn’t been as consistent as fans would have hoped heading into the season. While there have been moments of greatness from this defensive line, it hasn’t been consistent enough to call it a success this season.

That includes Mack. While he has had a good season, he has taken a step back from being an elite edge rusher to being an above average edge rusher. And on Sunday, having an above-average edge rusher wasn’t good enough for the Chargers.