The LA Chargers experienced their first real slugfest of the Jim Harbaugh era on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After a promising first half, the Chargers were outclassed by the Bucs, giving LA a real wake-up call as the season enters its most crucial stretch.

The most disappointing aspect of the loss was clearly how the defense collapsed against this Buccaneers team. Tampa Bay scored 40 points and managed 500 yards of offense against the top-scoring defense in the NFL.

After beating many bad offenses and bad quarterbacks, many Chargers fans are now wondering how good this defense really is or if it is just a byproduct of a lucky scheme.

Khalil Mack echoed Chargers fans’ frustration with the defensive play in Week 15. Mack was pretty outspoken about the team’s performance on the defensive side of the ball, sharing how “pissed” he was about the result.

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

Ouch. Football is sacred to many, and Mack’s statement that the Chargers were disrespectful throughout the game is not an easy comment to make. This is a veteran who is unhappy with his performance and the team’s play.

It’s impossible to blame Mack, however, as Sunday’s game was truly terrible in more ways than one. Whether it was the rushing attack that put up over 200 yards or Baker Mayfield looking like an MVP candidate, the Chargers had no answer at all for Tampa Bay.

It’s worth noting that no matter how upset Mack is about the performance, he is one of the leaders on the team who can turn things around in the future. That’s not to say Sunday was entirely Mack’s fault, but the only people who can change the outcome are those in the locker room. And that starts with Mack.

The fact is that the defensive line wasn’t as consistent as fans hoped early in the season. Even though there were great moments in this defensive line, it wasn’t consistent enough this season to be considered a success.

That includes Mack. Although he had a good season, he went 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.