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The Chargers are still winless in 2026: When will Los Angeles finally win a game?

The LA Chargers are the only team without a win in the 2026 calendar year. How long will it take them to end their losing streak?
ByWynston Wilcox
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert | Robert Gauthier/GettyImages

This is a historically bad season for the Los Angeles Chargers. Not just because they haven’t won a game in the 2026 season yet, sit at 0-7 two months in, haven’t scored a touchdown in two weeks and have just one game with more than 20 points scored. Because, the Chargers quite literally haven’t won a game in the 2026 calendar year yet. Their last regular season win was on Dec. 21, 2025 against the Dallas Cowboys. They ended the 2025 season on a three-game skid that included a playoff loss to the New England Patriots.

Now a whole offseason and start to the new season later, you wonder when exactly the Chargers could realistically win a regular season this year? Is it possible for them to actually be the first NFL team to go 0-17? Believe it or not, the Chargers might be lucky to win one game this year. 

Predicting when the Los Angeles Chargers win their first game of the 2026 season

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh
Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Prediction: Nov. 22 – New York Jets

It’s hard to say when the Chargers will win a game this year. Their offense is abysmal under first-year offensive coordinator Mike McDaniels. Maybe Tua Tagovailoa wasn’t the problem all along in Miami. This offense is the worst in the NFL. They’ve scored just 99 points this season; Justin Herbert has twice as many interceptions as he does touchdown passes and has been sacked 23 times in seven games. What is going on? 

Looking at this schedule, the Chargers could get their win as early as this month, though the way things are trending it’s not likely they’ll end their losing ways. 

The New York Jets are cursed. They're roughly the only team that would end such a streak. For what it’s worth, the Chargers don’t have an easy slate upcoming. They could beat Houston, who’s also having a rough season at 2-5 this year. The Texans have made the playoffs the last three seasons and that streak is hanging on by a thread. Realistically, the Texans are probably winning this game, mainly because they have to if they want to keep their season alive. The Texans still have a really good defense so I doubt the Chargers struggling offense gets any momentum. 

The Chargers play Baltimore the week after Houston and that’s a good chance to get their first win with Lamar Jackson out for at least a month. The Ravens, like Houston, have a good defense as well so it’s tough to see how this underperforming offense can find a way to get past Baltimore.

This is why the Jets will be the game the Chargers will most likely get their first win. New York isn’t a great team this year either. They’ve played some teams close, but they’ve also looked bad in some games this year. I think the Chargers will win a game this year, even if it isn’t against the Jets. The next possible game I could see them winning is against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first weekend in December. 

Could the Los Angeles Chargers go 0-17?

Justin Herbert
Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) at press conference after the game against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

There’s a world in which the LA Chargers are the first team in NFL history to go 0-17. Do I think it will happen this year? No. The Chargers are a good team and NFL teams are still really good even when they don’t look like it. At the end of the day, the Chargers have had some injury problems this year on their offensive line, which has been one of the biggest indictments on this team. The Chargers have too many winnable games left on their schedule to go winless. 

When you look at the teams that have had winless years — the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns — those teams looked lifeless. The Chargers don’t look lifeless yet; they just look like a team with a crippling offensive line, a busted offensive scheme and a quarterback that is playing unusually bad. There are at least four games the Chargers should win this year left on their schedule and they could pull off a division win at the end of the season.

Will the Chargers win a game in the 2026 calendar year?

Now this is an intriguing question. There are just two games in the calendar year 2027 this season, meaning the Chargers would have to go 0-15 in the 2026 season to not have a win in the 2026 calendar year. If Los Angeles doesn’t have a win by the Dec. 6 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they will probably be the first 0-17 team in NFL history. They have a brutal stretch to end the year with the Las Vegas Raiders and San Francisco 49ers. 

The final game for the Chargers in 2026 is against the Miami Dolphins. If they don’t win that game, they deserve to be the first winless team in the 17-game history of the NFL. Nothing against Miami, but they’re probably the weakest team remaining on their schedule. That’s LA’s best chance at getting a win in general and could be their last chance at avoiding an entire calendar year worth of losses.

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