With expectations low, Chargers have high hopes they'll answer big questions at camp

Over the franchise’s last 19 games, the Chargers have won five times.

This is a team that has beaten one opponent that finished with a winning record since Dec. 5, 2021, a stretch covering 40 games.

The over/under win total for the 2024 version of Chargers has been set at 8.5, which, in the NFL, is the exact expression of .500 or, stated another way, mediocrity.

Still, the Chargers will enter training camp near the end of July flush with confidence cultivated during the offseason program by, most of all, new head coach Jim Harbaugh.

“There’s no doubt in my mind we have the right guys and the right staff,” quarterback Justin Herbert said at the conclusion of minicamp. “We just have to go out there and execute. We have that faith we’re going to get things right.”

This is the time of year when every NFL team believes it has improved and most are convinced the Super Bowl is a realistic possibility.

Then again, at this point in 2023, much of the talk surrounding the Chargers was how Herbert was going to be uncorking bombs all over the place under then-offensive coordinator Kellen Moore.

Instead, following a series of injuries and failed game-winning opportunities, Herbert finished with an average gain of 6.9 yards per pass attempt, the second-lowest mark of his career.

So the talk is nothing more than just that — talk. Winning will be determined by action, and here are five areas that, depending on how the action unfolds in training camp, will shape the Chargers’ success this season: