Cardinals beat Chargers 26-14 as Mike LaFleur wins his head coaching debut

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Jacoby Brissett threw for 277 yards and a touchdown and the Arizona Cardinals defeated the Los Angeles Chargers 26-14 on Sunday, giving Mike LaFleur a victory in his head coaching debut over Jim Harbaugh.

The Chargers were 9 1/2-point favorites — biggest in the NFL in Week 1 — but they played from behind the entire game.

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LaFleur became the first Cardinals coach to win his debut since Don Coryell in 1973. Coryell coached the Chargers from 1978-86.

LaFleur won in the same SoFi Stadium where he worked his final game as the Los Angeles Rams' offensive coordinator last year before being hired by Arizona in February. He added 16 new assistants and 18 new players.

Chad Ryland had four field goals as the Cardinals won on the road against the Chargers for the first time since 2001. He only miss was a 54-yarder when the ball hit the right upright in the second quarter.

The Cardinals were coming off an injury-riddled season during which they won just three games.

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The Chargers made a mess of the fourth quarter. On their first three possessions, they had a blocked punt, Justin Herbert was intercepted and Los Angeles turned the ball over on downs on fourth-and-goal from the 3-yard line. They had another turnover on downs with less than 2 minutes remaining.

Herbert was 17 of 27 for 209 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and was sacked three times.

The Cardinals dominated possession, 37 minutes to 22, and ran 72 plays to 51 for the Chargers and compiled 393 yards of offense to 268.

Arizona dominated the first half and scored on its first possession. Jeremiyah Love, the No. 3 overall pick, stiff-armed Cam Hart in the left corner of the end zone and scored on a 5-yard run.

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The Chargers answered with a 9-yard TD run by Omarion Hampton. He got stoned at the 5-yard line, but kept going as four Cardinals failed to stop him, tying it at 7.

Arizona led 10-7 on Ryland's 27-yard field goal in the second.

Herbert got sacked by Dante Stills on fourth-and-goal with two minutes left before halftime. The Cardinals got a 42-yarder by Ryland after Paris Johnson Jr.'s 15-yard face mask penalty to lead 13-7.

After the Chargers were forced to punt on their first possession of the third, Arizona got a 34-yard field goal by Ryland to extend its lead to 16-7.

Los Angeles closed to 16-14 on Herbert's 8-yard pass to Ladd McConkey, who barely got into the corner of the end zone. The Chargers were helped by Max Melton's 48-yard defensive pass interference penalty.

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Harbaugh lost to open his third season as Chargers coach. The team won 11 games and made the playoffs in each of his first two years.

Injuries

Chargers: McConkey took a hard hit to his hip in the third quarter. S Elijah Molden injured a hamstring.

Up next

Cardinals: Host defending Super Bowl champion Seattle next Sunday.