The message from Chargers General Manager Joe Hortiz and Head Coach Jim Harbaugh in their year-end press conference was straightforward.
Even after a second consecutive playoff berth, they did not achieve the end goal they were looking for.
But the pieces are in place — and there's a level they want to attack with heading into the offseason.
"There's always a sense of urgency," Harbaugh said. "I mean, that is a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly thing. I'd answer the question this way: we feel like we have a lot to build on. Just keep moving forward with urgency. Aggressively attacking it."
Hortiz added: "We want to win the Super Bowl, so we got to get better."
Hortiz even offered an apt analogy that encapsulated the process.
"It's like a house. You got a nice house, you got a nice structure, that's what we have here," Hortiz said. "But we're going to keep renovating every room. Right when you get done with the bathroom, you go to the kitchen but you can't ignore the bathroom.
"You can't focus your attention on one room and let the other ones fall, too," Hortiz added.
The Bolts love the foundation they've built as they work to get there.
"We got a good house," Hortiz said. "We got good bones."
Harbaugh added: "We feel like there's a lot to build on."
When you look at both sides of the ball, it's easy to see why the foundation is set.
On offense, the Chargers have Justin Herbert under center, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt as bookend tackles and wide receiver Ladd McConkey and Quentin Johnston, both of whom have shown to be difference makers.
On the flip side of the ball, the group is highlighted by Derwin James, Jr., Daiyan Henley and Tuli Tuipulotu, plus others, on a unit that has been among the league's best defenses the past two seasons.
That's not even mentioning the depth that Hortiz has built out in the past two offseasons.
"I really feel like this year we were deeper at every position, we were deeper at every position going into camp," Hortiz said. "The injuries hit the offensive line room and they hit the running back room.
"That depth paid off, but our goal this offseason is to continue to add talent and depth in all spots," Hortiz added.
It's a good baseline but now remains an offseason to push it even further.
"To me, grow, continue to improve, continue to get better," Harbaugh said. "It's got to be better, and I take the responsibility. It's my accountability that our players, I asked them to fight to put themselves in position to be in position.
"They have continuously done that," Harbaugh added. "It's my responsibility to keep building the team, along with Joe, and the rest of the organization to win the championship. And like Joe said, unless we do that, then we are not where we want to be."
Hortiz later went back to the house analogy, noting you can't focus too much on one particular part.
"You focus too much on the kitchen, and the bathroom falls apart," Hortiz said. "You got to go to in the bathroom every once in a while.
"There will be focal points but we want to build a complete team that really helps us get to a Super Bowl," Hortiz added.
It's going to be an offseason of building at every level.
"Football, sports, it's a build, it's a process," Hortiz said. "It's like renovations, you're always evolving. I think we just have to continue to evolve and continue to grow like Coach says.
"That's what the offseason is for, time to look at things internally and look externally to see how you can get better in what you do, the processes, the players you have here," Hortiz added. "You continue to try to evolve."
Harbaugh added: "Keep building. Keep building the team."
The end result wasn't what the team was looking for, and now begins a full offseason ahead to prevent that down the road.
Now, the work begins to continue adding to a foundation that has plenty to build on.
"You spend weeks, months, having conversations leading up to free agency, leading up to the draft and you make the best decisions you can in that moment for the team," Hortiz said. "Ultimately, until we win the Super Bowl, I'll tell you we weren't good enough."
Harbaugh added: "It's results oriented and as an organization we're doing everything with one goal in mind and that's to win a championship and we're going to do whatever is best to build for that. So much to build on."
