What’s wrong with Frank Reich?

You want to know what Frank Reich’s problem is? You want to know why Reich is not as good an offensive coordinator in his first season as Ken Whisenhunt was last year?

Fine. Pay attention.

Take a look at a second-and-13 play during last Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos.

Running back Branden Oliver, lined up on the right, ran forward and briefly tied up a rushing linebacker, just long enough for Philip Rivers to look downfield for an opportunity that wasn’t there.

As the pass rush closed in, Oliver disengaged his block and crossed in front of Rivers, barely beyond the line of scrimmage. Rivers dumped the ball to him, Oliver caught it and ran across open grass for a 17-yard gain.

The first thought upon seeing the play is that you’d like to see it more often.

The second thought is that you used to.

Danny Woodhead was a masterful blocker, and perhaps more importantly, he innately knew when to move on, get in space and save his quarterback. It’s a trait the rookie Oliver is still developing.

This isn’t meant as an excuse for Reich -- or Rivers or the offensive line or the wide receivers or anyone else who has a hand in preparing and executing a Chargers offense that is struggling of late through a stunningly unproductive stretch.

It is simply offered as a partial explanation for what has gone wrong with the offense. It’s simply fact the Chargers lost some of their potential en route to losing their potency.

Aside from whatever back/chest/rib maladies Rivers is playing through – and don’t be surprised if we hear after the season that it’s the stuff that furthers his legend – we must consider what the Chargers don’t have.

Woodhead – second on the team in receptions, rushes and total yards and tied for the team lead in touchdowns in 2013 -- has been out since the third play of the season’s third game.

The loss of center Nick Hardwick’s ability, knowledge and leadership has been greatly felt, but we knew Woodhead going down would eventually catch up to the Chargers, even if we didn’t envision it would manifest in the offense converting 32.3 of its third downs in a three-game losing streak earlier in the season and scoring one touchdown in each of its past two games (both losses).

The offensive players have practically lined up to declare their culpability.

“We all accept responsibility in the lack of scoring enough points the last few weeks,” Rivers said.

They should. They could have done a better job getting open, running routes, blocking, running, throwing. Or, you know, not dooming a drive by pushing a guy too hard on a pick play or swiping at an opponent after a whistle.

Reich includes himself. Using Oliver in varied ways more often is something Reich acknowledged should be strived for. What else? Tough to say, but maybe there are some of those short routes the Chargers should go back to running more often. I’d love to see more hurry-up, though when you can’t sustain drives – 15 of the Chargers’ 21 possessions over the past two games have lasted six plays or fewer, 12 of them no more than four plays – the no-huddle is ill-advised.

What about running more? How about you pay attention?

The Chargers simply can’t run in any consistent way. And Jeromey Clary and Hardwick aren’t walking through the door, though they have lost enough combined weight they could fit through the doorway side-by-side.

And Ryan Mathews could only limp through any door at this point.

That brings us to another explanation (not excuse).

Mathews carried the Chargers to the playoffs last December by running 107 times for 473 yards, numbers that were most and second-most in the league over those final four games.

If there is future glory for the Chargers with this head coach, with this quarterback, let the name of Ken Whisenhunt be mentioned as among the architects who laid the foundation.

But remember that Whisenhunt was fortunate, too, that he was here for the one season Mathews played all 16 games and rushed a career-high 285 times.

Mathews has played in eight games this year, run 74 times.

The biggest difference between Whisenhunt and Reich, in terms of being effective gunslingers, is their available bullets.

Also -- and match-ups get far too little appreciation from season to season for every team -- there is the fact the Chargers have played eight games against top-10 defenses and one against a bottom-10 defense so far in 2014, compared to three against top-10 and five against bottom-10 in 2013.

The Chargers offense has problems, but Reich is not one of them.