SAN DIEGO -- Losers of two straight, and five of their past seven dating to last season, the San Diego Chargers look to get back to winning on Sunday when the 1-2 Cleveland Browns come to town.
Safety Eric Weddle told reporters it’s important for his teammates to put the disheartening loss to the Minnesota Vikings behind them and focus on Cleveland.
"We don’t want this to lull (us to sleep) and get used to losing," Weddle said. "We we’ve won a lot of games around here. It’s the approach. It’s the consistency, being a professional, coming to work every day and not letting the past week affect the way you prepare."
Added Chargers head coach Mike McCoy: "Losing sucks in this business. It doesn’t matter how many points you lose by or how you lose the game, you try and be 1-0 at the end of every week."
Three areas of focus this week for the Chargers to improve will be stopping the run, generating a pass rush and doing a better job of protecting quarterback Philip Rivers.
San Diego is allowing 4.9 yards per rush, No. 30 in the NFL. The Chargers have just one sack through three games, yet Rivers has been sacked 10 times through three games.
McCoy said eliminating the mistakes and steadying the team’s performance will be his focus.
"That’s the big thing as a football team -- we need to perform more consistently from play-to-play, series-to-series, game-to-game, quarter-to-quarter -- however you want to say it," McCoy said.
Weddle said players like cornerback Stevie Williams and outside linebacker Jeremiah Attaochu were bright spots in an otherwise dismal performance for San Diego’s defense. Weddle said those performances and the fact that San Diego held Minnesota to 3.9 yards per rush in the first half are things the Chargers can build on for next week.
"What is done is done," Weddle said. "Be coached up, be coachable and try and play better next week. That’s all you can really do. But let’s not get used to losing. Let’s not let this hang over our heads. Let’s try and put our best foot forward and get back to winning, get back to 2-2."