Chargers fire offensive coordinator Greg Roman in wake of playoff loss
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Two days after their playoff fiasco at New England, the Chargers achieved something they were unable to do on the field.
They created separation.
That came in the form of firings, with the team parting ways with offensive coordinator Greg Roman and offensive line coach Mike Devlin.
The move came in the wake of yet another one-and-done performance in the postseason, a 16-3 loss in the AFC wild-card playoffs in which the Chargers generated 207 yards of offense and converted one of 10 third downs.
It was an embarrassing showing for a team that was blown out in a wild-card game at Houston the year before, the first season under coach Jim Harbaugh.
Neither game was a flattering showcase for quarterback Justin Herbert, who is 0-3 in postseason starts yet who Harbaugh has called “the best to ever do it.”
A day after their playoff loss to the New England Patriots, Chargers players are short on answers to the team’s problems after falling short of expectations
There are mitigating factors for Herbert, including playing behind an offensive line in constant rotation because of injuries and a middle-of-the-road collection of receivers that struggled more than shined.
In their two postseason appearances under Harbaugh, the Chargers amassed one touchdown (with a failed conversion) and three field goals. When asked about the future of Roman after Sunday night’s game, Harbaugh was notably noncommittal.
“Right now I don’t have the answers,” Harbaugh said in the immediate aftermath of the loss. “We’re going to look at that, and everything. It falls on me that we weren’t at our best, and I don’t have the answers. I wish I did.”
Roman has a long coaching relationship with the Harbaugh family, as he was associate head coach under Jim Harbaugh at Stanford, and again worked for Harbaugh as offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers.
Later, Roman served as a position coach then offensive coordinator of the Baltimore Ravens under John Harbaugh, Jim’s older brother.
When Jim Harbaugh took the Chargers job in early 2024, he hired Roman as offensive coordinator. Harbaugh moved to Southern California and for a few months lived in a motorhome he parked at the beach. Roman joined him with a motorhome of his own.
Devlin, a former NFL offensive lineman, spent the better part of two decades coaching the position group in the pros. This was his second season with the Chargers, whose line was devastated by injuries including season-ending ones by decorated tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt.
Justin Herbert and the Chargers struggle to generate much of anything on offense in a 16-3 wild-card playoff loss to the New England Patriots.
The Chargers wound up with a porous and patchwork line that featured 29 different combinations over the course of 17 games.
The Chargers were moving backward from the previous season. They were 20th in the league in scoring at 21.6 points per game this season, down from 11th at 23.6 points.
