Los Angeles Chargers’ Season Continues To Go Wrong With Left Tackle Rashawn Slater Sidelined

The Los Angeles Chargers are spiraling in the wrong direction with Monday’s news from various reports that Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater is out for the season.

Slater ruptured a biceps tendon in Sunday’s embarrassing loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, ending the year for someone entrusted to protect quarterback Justin Herbert’s blindside.

That Herbert (rib cartilage) was still playing so late in a 38-10 blowout that saw the Jaguars snap a 18-game road losing streak was the dominating topic in wake of the Chargers’ face-plant.

But L.A. coach Brandon Staley’s head-scratching decision, and his eyebrow-raising reasoning, to keep a compromised Herbert in harm’s way was momentarily pushed aside with Slater’s prognosis.

Slater was a second-team All-Pro last year as he made the transition from Northwestern to the NFL like the Chargers envisioned from their first-round pick.

Slater was viewed as a longtime anchor for Herbert, the talented youngster that has the Chargers in a win-now mode to take advantage of Herbert’s four-year, $26.5 million rookie contract.

The same is true with Slater’s affordability with his four-year, $16.6 million rookie deal.

Storm Norman replaces Slater and the reviews from Sunday’s game when Norman filled that void were dreadful.

Compounding Slater’s absence was Pro Bowl center Corey Lindsay (knee) being idle, but he’ll likely return at some point.

It’s clear the Chargers’ coaches need to earn their dough now. They have to scheme in a manner to cover the blemishes of a banged-up offensive line and Herbert nursing an ailing side.

The Chargers (1-2) showed little offensive piazza in their clunker against Jacksonville, with running back Austin Ekeler finding nowhere to roam and a receiving corps missing Pro Bowler Keenan Allen (hamstring).

Add Pro Bowl linebacker Joey Bosa (groin) departing prematurely on Sunday and if the Chargers’ luck was a fish, they would’ve thrown it back.

Norman, a second-stringer, is now front-and-center in a Chargers season that is hanging in the balance.

Staley, deservedly, remains in the spotlight, too.

His handling of a dinged-up Herbert late in a route, which fueled speculation that Staley wasn’t forceful enough in following logic, won’t diminish soon.

The Chargers, who travel to play the Houston Texans on Sunday, can still flip this season’s script. But with the mounting injuries, the pressure increases on Staley and his staff to decipher a way to keep the reeling Chargers viable.