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“CHARGERS–THE COACH FOUND OUT”
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Jim Harbaugh, he of bold comments all the time, said it at the end of the week as the team put finishing touches on practice in Charlotte, before heading to Pittsburgh to meet the Steelers on Sunday.

‘We’ll find out what we are made of’.”

They found out Sunday afternoon on the banks of the 3-Rivers.  You can find the remnants of the Bolts game out on the curb waiting for the sanitation crews to come by and pick up the garbage.

They got blasted, pasted, buried by a mediocre pedestrian Pittsburgh offense, and then sledge hammered by a Steelers defense that ran them into the Allegheny River by the time it was over.

The (20-10) beatdown is more than just one loss in the standings.  There now appear to be long lasting effects from injuries that could spill over for weeks into the schedule.

Quarterback Justin Herbert re injured his high right ankle sprain, hobbled off and now is in jeopardy of missing next week’s game against Kansas City.

Left tackle Rashawn Slater left in the second half with a pectoral shoulder injury, something critical when it comes to pass blocking the QBs blind side.

Right tackle Joe Alt, who had his hands full with TJ Watt’s pass rushing, seemed to strain a knee falling backward in the 4th quarter as things fell apart.

Pass rusher Joey Bosa limped off apparently re injuring his hip-groin problems, as his chronic health issues continue for a third year in a row.

Pittsburgh mugged Jim Harbaugh’s team.  It was like assault and battery.

The Chargers self destructed with 3-major personal foul penalties, led by safety Derwin James, who got two of them.

The Steelers blitz got stronger and stronger as the day went on, finished with 5-sacks, 7-hits on the QBs, 7-tackles for loss against the run game, and 5-pressures.

Kick returner Derious Davis killed them with decisions to return kicks out of the end zone, pinning them back to their own 11-and-12 yard line.

The secondary fell apart, giving up a 55-yard TD catch by Cal Austin, and allowing tight end Pat Friermuth to catch pass after pass down the middle.

The run defense, that had been so stout, let Najee Harris bust off yards after yards.

The second half was a nightmare, allowing Mike Tomlin’s team to run off 48-plays to just 15 by Harbaugh’s team.  The second half yardage was ghastly (249 to -15) as the sacks piled up.

The Steelers had a (20-10) edge in first downs and choked off the Bolts on 3rd downs, holding them to (3-11) conversions.

Justin Fields, fighting for NFL life at quarterback, got better and better as the game went on.  His (10-for-10) start was then completed as he threw for (245Y-TD) along the way.

The fallout from Sunday’s failure, this battering to a lower echelon team, will be felt for awhile.

Anybody can get blown out on an NFL-Sunday…just ask the Eagles and Cowboys for example.  But this hammering has many more implications.

So Jim Harbaugh told us ‘we’ll find out who we are heading into Pittsburgh’.  Now we know, they are a ways off, and they have a variety of health issues that may make them a different team moving into the teeth of the schedule.

As the Pittsburgh sanitation department picks up the garbage bags outside the Stadium on Monday, you hope the Chargers potential for a big season is not included in the plastic bags next to all the other refuse coming out of the Stadium from Sunday night.

It was a really bad beatdown for lots of reasons.  And Jim Harbaugh cannot sales pitch us differently.

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