Chargers @ Rams

Eleven 0-6 teams played game seven on the road. All 11 lost

The Chargers are 0 and 6 for the first time since 2000, and their seventh game is a road game in their own stadium: the Rams are the listed home team at SoFi Stadium, where the Chargers went 0 and 3 this season. Since 1999, 32 teams have started 0 and 6. Eight won their seventh game, and all eight were the listed home team; the 11 that played it on the road lost all 11, two of them to the Rams (Cleveland 34 to 3 in 1999, Detroit 28 to 19 in 2021), and the 2000 Chargers lost theirs 27 to 24 in Buffalo. The Rams are 3 and 4 after a 35 to 21 win over the Raiders, but 1 and 2 at SoFi, where they lost their last two by three points in overtime and by two. Sunday asks whether the league's lowest scoring offense, 15.0 points a game, can be the first 0 and 6 team since 1999 to win its seventh game as the road team, in the one road stadium it knows best.

Why it matters. A 0-6 team on the road has nothing in its favor in this cohort: the eight teams that won game seven all did it as the listed home team, and the 11 road teams lost by anywhere from 3 to 55 points. The Chargers get the strangest version of that test, a road game in the building where they play their home games, against a Rams team that has lost its last two there. The collisions below decide whether the Chargers' offense can produce enough to change an 0 and 11 history.

Herbert has 8 interceptions and 21 sacks. The Rams' pass defense ranks fifth

To win this one the Chargers have to throw, and no team has thrown worse. Their passing offense averages minus 0.268 EPA per dropback, 32nd of 32, after minus 0.054 and 26th in 2025; Justin Herbert has 1,141 yards, five touchdown passes and eight interceptions in six games, and the Chargers' eight interceptions on 201 dropbacks are the highest rate in the league. In Week 6 at Kansas City, with no snaps from Tre Harris and eight from Ladd McConkey, the passing offense posted minus 0.407 per dropback. The Rams' pass defense allows minus 0.065, fifth, after minus 0.075 and 10th in 2025, but its rush has 10 sacks on 241 dropbacks, 28th by rate, against a Chargers line that has allowed 21 sacks, 31st by rate.

The Week 8 injury report lists Harris as limited in practice with a hamstring and McConkey as a full participant with a concussion; for the Rams, cornerback Trent McDuffie, who took no defensive snaps in Weeks 6 and 7, is listed as limited with a groin. If Herbert is sacked or intercepted on either of the Chargers' first two possessions, the league's last-ranked passing game is the one on the field; if he is clean through the first quarter, the Rams' 28th-ranked rush is the unit losing the matchup.

Why it matters. The Chargers' passing game has been last in the league with its top two receivers in and out of the lineup, and the Chargers' interception rate is the worst of any offense. The Rams' pass defense is fifth by EPA without much of a rush, which means it has been winning in coverage; the Chargers' 31st-ranked protection is the one place a 28th-ranked rush could still get home. Every 2026 number here is six or seven games set beside a full 2025 season.

The Chargers' defense ranks fourth on third down. The Rams just went 6 for 9

The part of the Chargers that has held up is the defense on third down: opponents convert 31.9 percent, fourth in the league, after 35.2 percent and fourth in 2025, and Denver went 1 for 12 in Week 5. The Rams convert 48.2 percent, sixth, after 40.4 percent and 16th in 2025, and they went 6 for 9 against the Raiders in Week 7, when Matthew Stafford completed 23 of 29 passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns and the offense averaged plus 0.174 EPA per play, against plus 0.059 across 2026 and plus 0.145 across 2025. The other side tilts the Rams' way: the Chargers convert 36.6 percent, 27th, into a Rams defense allowing 32.2 percent, fifth. If the Rams convert their first two third downs, the Chargers' best unit is losing its best matchup; if the Chargers stop both, a 15-point offense is in a game it can stay in.

Why it matters. Third down is where the Chargers' defense has kept games close enough to lead in four of six, and it was fourth in 2025 too, so this is a continuation, not a one-week spike. The Rams' third-down offense ranked 16th in 2025 and sixth now, and its 6 for 9 against the Raiders is one game beside a 40.4 percent season. A Chargers offense that scores 15.0 points a game needs short Rams possessions; this is the matchup that produces them.

The Chargers have 13 fourth-quarter points. The Rams have 65

If the Chargers keep it close, the fourth quarter is where their season has gone wrong. They have scored 13 points in fourth quarters, 2.2 a game and the fewest in the league, after 5.6 a game in 2025, and they were shut out in four of six. They led Buffalo 13 to 10 and Denver 17 to 10 entering the fourth quarter and lost both, 24 to 16 and 23 to 17. The Rams score 9.3 a game in the fourth quarter and overtime, third most, and came from 20 to 10 down to win 24 to 20 in Philadelphia, but they have let leads go too: 16 to 0 at halftime in Denver became a 30 to 26 loss, and a 28 to 6 lead over the Raiders ended 35 to 21 after a 15 to 7 fourth quarter. If the Chargers lead or trail by one score when the fourth quarter starts, watch their first possession of it: 13 fourth-quarter points in six games is the number the Rams are playing against.

Why it matters. The Chargers' fourth-quarter scoring is a third of the 2025 rate, and it is the difference between two leads entering the fourth quarter and two losses. The Rams are among the league's best late-scoring teams but they turned a 16 to 0 halftime lead into a loss in Denver and let a 22-point halftime lead over the Raiders shrink to 14, so a close game is not a settled one for either side. Six and seven games are a small sample, which is why the 2025 rows sit beside them.