The Chargers and Rams played a rather wacky contest inside SoFi Stadium on Saturday evening that ended in a rather miraculous win for Sean McVay’s group.
With 28 seconds left, the Rams faced fourth-and-10 at the Chargers 48-yard line. Quarterback Stetson Bennett heaved a prayer up the field to receiver Brennan Presley who managed to haul it in with two defenders draped over him. On the very next play, Bennett hit wideout Tru Edwards for the game-winning score to gibe the Rams a 23-22
From one end of the spectrum to the other just like that. The Bolts fall to 2-1 on the preseason and will travel to the 49ers for the preseason finale.
Justin Herbert and the starting offense got to play only the opening drive against the Rams backups. They managed a field before their time was done, but it came at the cost of Quentin Johnston who took a very hard hit near his chin from a defender as he tracked a go ball up the right sideline. He froze up on contact with the ground, but luckily got up on his own and was carted to the locker room.
With the starters and veterans on the sideline, both Tre’ Harris and KeAndre Lamebert-Smith had standout performances. Harris caught six passes for 85 yards (despite some bad misses from Taylor Heinicke) and KLS notched 66 yards on a pair of receptions. Both numbers were good for first and second on the team, respectively.
However, it may have been two UDFAs who authored the biggest plays of the night for the Chargers.
First, wideout Luke Grimm returned a punt 66 yards for a touchdown to give the Chargers their biggest lead of the night. Then, with the Rams attempting to respond, defensive tackle TeRah Edwards dropped into coverage on a blitz call before undercutting a slant and taking it back 27 yards the other way.
It was a night full of big plays and momentum swinging wildly back and forth. It’s just unfortunate things swung hard away from the Chargers at the worst of times.
This game is meaningless for any reason that matters, but don’t tell the faithful that. Third and fourth-stringers or not, you want to see your team finish the game strong. The Chargers failed to put it away tonight with a number of different opportunities.
Now, with one week remaining in the preseason, we’ll get to see who is still chasing a roster spot and which players have seemingly locked down a job for this year.
First Quarter
Chargers won the toss and chose to defer. The Bolts offense was up first.
On the second play of the game, Herbert found McConkey over the middle for a 16-yard gain. Herbert then took the following snap and heaved a go ball up the right sideline to Quentin Johnston. The ball ricocheted off his chest before a Rams safety hit him up near the chin area and Johnston could be seen freezing up as he collided with the ground. After being tended to on the field for several minutes, Johnston was able to stand up and walk to the cart before being taken into the locker room.
In Johnston’s place, fifth-round rookie KeAndre Lambert-Smith stepped in with the starters and caught his first pass since the Hall of Fame Game on a heck of a throw by Herbert to beat the corner on a corner route.
The Rams defense sniffed out a tight end screen on the ensuing first down which forced a Herbert sack of six yards. After a fade to KLS was broken up in the end zone, Omarion Hampton took a draw play up the middle for seven yards to make the Cameron Dicker field goal even easier. From 32 yards out, Dicker put the Chargers up 3-0 on the opening drive of the game.
Stetson Bennett got the start for the Rams at quarterback and proceeded to march his offense all the way down the field along with some strong runs by running back Blake Corum. On a first down play inside the Chargers 10-yard line, Alohi Gilman took some friendly fire from teammate Denzel Perryman and was slow to get off the field. Fortunately, he did not have to go into the medical tent.
On the next play, Stetson faked a handoff to Corum, turned, and fired a pass to receiver Konata Mumpfield who beat Benjamin St-Juste for a touchdown on a slant. The extra point was good and the Rams led 7-3 with a little under seven minutes in the period.
Second Quarter
The Chargers defensive backups got a stop on their first drive of the game which brought possession back to Taylor Heinicke and the offense. The backups put together a 12-play drive that took over seven minutes off the clock but could not break into the end zone once again. Dicker was good from 39 yards to minimize the Rams lead to 7-6.
Bennett and the Rams offense moved the ball at will once again all the way inside the Chargers five-yard line. After looking leaky all drive, the Bolts defense stood tall in the shadow of their own goal post to get a huge fourth-down stop via Tony Jefferson’s pass breakup to keep their deficit at just one point.
Raheim Sanders showed some excellent burst on his first carry of the night. He bounced a run near his own goal line to the right and made multiple Rams defenders miss en route to a first down. From there, Heinicke could not find a steady rhythm in the passing game. With multiple overthrows to Tre’ Harris and and off-target throw to KLS on third down, the Chargers were forced to punt just before the two-minute warning.
The Chargers defense stepped up again to force a three-and-out and get the ball back for the offense with enough time for their own drive before the half.
Heinicke took a hit early in the drive that forced him to the sideline with Trey Lance replacing him at quarterback. The first three plays for Lance were a 12-yard pass to Tre’ Harris, a 12-yard scramble, and a 37-yard pass to Lambert-Smith who somehow hauled it in before falling out of bounds.
An illegal shift penalty backed up the offense in the red zone and the unit couldn’t break through with three-consecutive incompletions to end the drive. Dicker once again converted and the Bolts took a 9-7 lead into the half.
Third Quarter
The Rams came out rolling on offense to begin the second half.
Bennett helped orchestrate a 10-play, 53-yard drive that took six minutes off the clock but fortunately ended in another defensive stop to hold the Rams to a field goal. The Chargers then responded with their own 10-play drive that took 5:27 off the clock and ended in a rushing touchdown by Raheim Sanders. The drive was highlighted by a 34-yard reception from Lance to Harris that brought the Bolts to the one-yard line.
On the other end, the Rams responded with another touchdown of their own thanks to a 38-yard strike from Bennett to receiver Mario Williams that came as time expired in the quarter.
Heading into the final period, the Rams held a 17-15 lead.
Fourth Quarter
After forcing a three-and-out by the Rams, the Chargers lined up to receive the punt with UDFA wideout Luke Grimm back to return.
The rookie fielded the punt and sprinted towards his left. He proceeded to beat all the Rams pursuers to the sideline and race up the field essentially untouched into the end zone for a 66-yard touchdown. The massive play gave the Chargers a 22-17 lead following Dicker’s successful extra point.
run, rook, run
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— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers)
August 17, 2025
Bennett and the Rams offense took advantage of some blown coverages and a facemask penalty by cornerback Ja’Sir Taylor to quickly march back down the field on the Chargers defense. At the Bolts 25-yard line, Bennett was nearly picked off by safety R.J. Mickens. On the very next play, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter called up a blitz that dropped defensive tackle TeRah Edwards into coverage and the big man undercut a slant route, picked off Bennett, and returned it 27 yards the other way for the game’s first turnover.
the best thing you'll watch all day
| CBS2 LA
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— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers)
August 17, 2025
Lance and the Chargers offense went three-and-out with two incomplete passes on second and third down which allowed the Rams to only use one of their remaining three timeouts to stop the clock. On second down, Lance’s pass was tipped. On third down, Lance heaved one up to an open Dalevon Campbell up the left sideline but he never looked up and found the ball which landed harmlessly near the sideline. If he had, he likely walks into the end zone untouched with the dagger score.
Instead, the Chargers gave the ball back and a little bit of hell broke loose.
Bennett and the Rams found themselves facing third-and-10 at the Chargers 48-yard line with 28 seconds left. The Rams quarterback took the snap, dropped back, and was hit by Tre’Mon Morris-Brash as he was wound up to throw. Despite initially being called a lost fumble, the officials overturned the call to an incompletion. On fourth down, Bennett heaved a prayer to wideout Brennan Presley down the field who somehow caught the pass with two Chargers draped over him.
On the very next play, Bennett hit receiver Tru Edwards just inside the goal line for the game-winning score.
From a VERY probable win for the Chargers to an improbable loss, the Bolts fell 23-22 to the Rams inside SoFi Stadium.
