Chargers' loss to Bills drops them to 0-3, puts season in jeopardy

Elliott Teaford, The Orange County Register on Sep 27, 2026

Published in Football

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ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Los Angeles Chargers’ season of frustration continued with a 24-16 loss Sunday to the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. The Chargers forced five turnovers and limited their mistakes to a handful while playing a credible first half, but it caught up to them eventually.

Jim Harbaugh had never started a season 0-2 as an NFL coach. The Chargers hadn’t started a season 0-3 since 2017, when they opened their first season as the Los Angeles Chargers with a 0-4 mark en route to a 9-7 record and a second-place finish in the AFC West.

But here they are, winless and with their season in jeopardy.

The Bills went into the game 2-0, and with the NFL’s best offense, having scored 77 points. Oddsmakers made them seven-point favorites over the Chargers, who had scored only 14 points in each of their losses to the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders.

Three takeaways, 10 first-quarter points, zero penalties and zero turnovers.

But all the Chargers’ had for their best half of the season was a 10-10 tie with the Bills by halftime. A rare miss by kicker Cameron Dicker, from 45 yards, turned the momentum into Buffalo’s favor and Josh Allen rallied the Bills into a tie with two scoring drives in the final 6:02 of the half.

Allen’s 1-yard quarterback sneak tied it with 16 seconds left in the half.

All things considered, the Chargers could have had a larger lead than their 10-0 advantage after the first quarter, having forced Bills running back James Cook to fumble on the first play from scrimmage and then converted on Justin Herbert’s 1-yard touchdown pass to running back Keaton Mitchell.

Allen tried to pick on rookie safety Genesis Smith, but Smith picked him off, which led to Dicker’s 31-yard field goal and a 10-0 lead with 34 seconds left in the opening quarter. Allen tried it again on the first play of the second quarter, but Smith intercepted him again.

The Chargers were scoreless in the second quarter, but they regained the lead, 13-10, on Dicker’s 21-yard field goal on their opening possession of the third. They scored points despite being penalized twice for false starts and once each for blocking in the back and holding.

Allen put the Bills in front for the first time in the game, 17-13, midway through the fourth quarter with his second 1-yard quarterback sneak of the game, leaving the Chargers 7:35 to retake the lead or walk away with their third consecutive season.

Cook’s 3-yard touchdown run with 3:13 left sealed the deal, sending the reeling Chargers home with more questions than answers.

The Chargers face the Super Bowl champion Seahawks in Seattle next Sunday, and the distinct possibility of a repeat of their 0-4 start of a decade ago.

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