Jim Harbaugh Regrets Not Playing Starters More in NFL Preseason After Week 1 Loss to Cardinals

The Los Angeles Chargers started the season with a disappointing 26-14 loss against the Arizona Cardinals, and largely resting the starters during the preseason may have played a factor.

"We made some preseason type of mistakes," head coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters Monday. "Now I wish we played our starters more in the preseason to give them some game reps."

NFL teams have largely moved toward keeping their starters sidelined for much of the preseason due to the 17-game regular season and the desire to keep key players healthy. But the result in recent years has been some sloppy starts to the regular season, especially for teams adjusting to new head coaches or offensive coordinators.

The Chargers fall into the latter camp, bringing in former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator. After managing 268 yards of total offense, 22:29 in time of possession, two turnovers and three sacks taken, it certainly looked like the offense could have used more time to gel in the new system.