The Los Angeles Chargers would appear to be a fairly competent football team if football halves only lasted 25 minutes.
They’ve scored 24 points in the first 25 minutes of first halves this year while allowing 20.
They’ve scored 17 points in the first 25 minutes of second halves this season while allowing 24.
Unfortunately for them, NFL halves last 30 minutes.
And those final 5 minutes have posed a specific problem for the Chargers. More specifically: This is when they tend to get pantsed, which is unfortunate because those end-of-half segments are where most NFL games get decided.
I’m putting a microscope on the final 5 minutes of NFL games this season to see what we can learn about where and why teams go wrong.
The first step is finding the outliers, and through three weeks this season, that’s the Chargers:
Point Differential | First 25:00 First Half | Final 5:00 First Half | First 25:00 Second Half | Final 5:00 Second Half |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Chiefs | +18 | -14 | 17 | 7 |
Texans | -13 | -14 | -15 | +10 |
Chargers | +4 | -13 | -7 | -16 |
Titans | -10 | -10 | -2 | 0 |
Patriots | +13 | -10 | -18 | 0 |
*Note: Point differentials do not include points scored in overtime.
We’ll get back to the Chargers in a bit.
🎰 Las Vegas jackpot
The Raiders have gotten the ball in the final 5 minutes of the first half in each of their three games this season.
They have scored one touchdown and two field goals on those end-of-half possessions. They are the only team in the league batting 1.000 in those opportunities. That efficiency is one of the hidden reasons behind the team’s 3-0 start.
💐Flowers for Flores
It’s harder than most people think for an NFL defense to close out a game.
There have been 36 times this season in which an NFL team has had the ball in the final 5 minutes with a chance to tie or take the lead.
The defense gave up a score in 15 of those 36 situations, which is 38.9%.
None of those instances involved the Minnesota Vikings defense, however. In fact, Brian Flores’ unit has squashed opponent rallies with such impunity that I feel compelled to break it out in a chart.
Opponent | Score | Drive began | Result | Drive ended |
|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. GB | Min 25, GB 22 | 6:37 | Fumble | 4:52 |
vs. GB | Min 31, GB 22 | 4:48 | Interception | 4:13 |
at CHI | Min 6, Chi 3 | 12:58 | Blocked FG | 6:21 |
at CHI | Min 9, Chi 3 | 1:09 | Downs | 0:00 |
at TB | Min 17, TB 13 | 13:23 | FG | 9:02 |
at TB | Min 20, TB 16 | 3:10 | Interception | 1:39 |
at TB | Min 23, TB 16 | 0:33 | Interception | 0:00 |
🚀 Houston, there is a problem
On the other end of the spectrum from Minnesota, the Houston Texans were SUPPOSED to have one of the best defenses in the league.
Instead, that unit has been the most glaring weakness during an 0-3 start.
Houston has allowed 75 points over three games, which ranks 19th among 32 teams, but to understand the depth of the problem, you need to look at when those points have been surrendered.
Houston opponents have scored 24 points in the final 5 minutes of the first half. That’s the most of any team in the league. Buffalo, Carolina and Indianapolis are tied for second-most at 17.
Additionally, the Texans have taken the lead in the final 5 minutes in two of their three games. The defense hasn’t been able to hold onto it either time:
Opponent | Score | Drive began | Result | Time remaining |
|---|---|---|---|---|
vs. BUF | Hou 31, Buf 30 | 3:13 | TD | 1:36 |
at IND | Hou 17, Ind 16 | 1:48 | FG | 0:16 |
🌕 The Chargers are cheeks
The 0-3 Chargers are among the league's most disappointing teams this season. So far, most of the scrutiny has been trained on quarterback Justin Herbert and new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel.
In fact, so much scrutiny has been heaped on the offense that no one seems to notice how the Chargers have absolutely rolled over at the end of halves.
In three games, L.A. opponents have had three possessions that began in the final 5 minutes of the half. Those three possessions have resulted in one touchdown and two field goals.
The Chargers have been outscored 13-0 in the final 5 minutes of first halves this season, which is tied for the second-worst margin in the NFL:
Final 5 minutes | of the 1st Half | of the 2nd Half |
|---|---|---|
Houston | -14 | +10 |
Kansas City | -14 | +7 |
Green Bay | -13 | -18 |
L.A. Chargers | -13 | -16 |
Tennessee | -10 | 0 |
New England | -10 | 0 |
I’m not sure if I’m adding insult to injury at this point, but there’s definitely a lack of awareness. The Chargers made a basic error in game management at the end of Sunday’s loss to Buffalo.
The Chargers got the ball back with 3:13 remaining, trailing 13-24. They had one timeout remaining.
To have a chance to win without recovering an onside kick, the Chargers needed to score before the 2-minute warning. Could’ve been a field goal or a touchdown, but they absolutely had to score with more than 2 minutes remaining without using that last timeout.
With 2:28 left in the half, the Chargers had the ball at the BUF-18 with the clock stopped.
Spoiler alert: The Chargers did not kick the field goal.
They ran three more offensive plays, one rush and two incompletions, at which point the clock reached 2 minutes. The Chargers kicked the field goal on the other side of the 2-minute warning.
They did not recover the onside kick.
Captain comeback?
There have been 19 instances in which an NFL team had the ball in the final 5 minutes, needing a touchdown to either tie or take the lead.
The team with the ball has scored a touchdown on exactly seven of those 19 drives.
Deshaun Watson was responsible for two of them:
Week, Opp | Score | Drive began | Result | Time left |
|---|---|---|---|---|
2, at TB | TB 18, Cle 13 | 9:58 | TD | 3:51 |
3, vs. CAR | Car 18, Cle 13 | 4:25 | TD | 1:48 |
No one wants to hear this because no one really likes this guy (for very good reason, by the way), but the comebacks he’s authored are worth noting, even though they came against two teams that have a combined one victory between them.
Cleveland has scored 22 points in the final 5 minutes of regulation in their three games this season, which is the second-most of any team in the league behind the Vikings.