The NFL hurt Chargers fans and didn't even get a good rating with the ESPN+ stunt

Some Los Angeles Chargers fans on the West Coast had to jump through streaming hoops to watch the team's games Monday Night Football Game against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 7.

And the streaming-only second game in a staggered-start doubleheader didn't even get a good rating.

According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the game only attracted 1.8 million viewers. That's a shocking number considering the Baltimore Ravens vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, which aired on ABC and ESPN, reached 16 million or more. Last week's game grossed more than 17 million.

Chargers fans who weren't in attendance at certain locations were only able to watch the loss to the Cardinals on ESPN+ streaming. It was the second of the doubleheader, overlapping with the first at an odd start time of 9 p.m. ET and, frankly, not a particularly appetizing matchup.

Perhaps the experiment produced numbers that those involved liked. But for most fans, a staggered doubleheader probably wasn't great. And for Chargers fans, it simply stank, which is fitting because the game stank too, as the team went down 17-15 and settled for five field goals despite Justin Herbert's nearly 400-yard outburst.

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