After a one-year hiatus, the Los Angeles Chargers are back in the playoffs. On Saturday, they will face the Texans in Houston in the AFC Wild Card round after finishing the season 11-6 in Jim Harbaugh's first year as a head coach.
The defensive improvement under Harbaugh was particularly impressive. The team went from the 24th-ranked defense in the league to the best defensive unit, allowing the fewest points of any team in the NFL.
Despite the success, there were a few individual performances that left plenty to be desired. One of those was star defensive end Joey Bosa.
After playing a total of 14 games in the last two seasons, Bosa had a much healthier campaign this time around, playing in 14 games. Yet, he played a career-low 50% of available defensive snaps and wasn't his usual productive self in them. He received a career-worst 63.9 grade on Pro Football Focus, placing him 62nd among 121 defensive ends.
In his ninth year at the franchise, Bosa had five sacks, five tackles for loss, and 13 QB hits in 14 games. His tackling was particularly disappointing at times, finishing with three missed tackles and receiving a 43.1 tackling grade on PFF.
Despite having an elite defense, the Chargers were actually middle-of-the-pack in pass rush metrics per PFF, finishing 16th in the NFL on that front.
In the 2020 offseason, Bosa signed a five-year, $135 million extension with the Chargers. He restructured that deal last offseason to remain in Los Angeles and he is set to earn a base salary of $17 million and a roster bonus of $12.3 million next season. His deal has an out after this season and the Chargers could have serious cap savings if they were to move on from their four-time Pro Bowler.
At this point, however, the Chargers aren't too concerned about that. If Bosa can go back to his old self and deliver a few vintage performances for the Bolts in the postseason, it will all be forgiven.