Justin Herbert once again failed to clear the playoff hurdle, as the Los Angeles Chargers suffered an embarrassing 16-3 loss to the New England Patriots.

The frustration of failing again was clearly visible on his face during the post-game press conference. Upon asking whether his confidence was shattered following the loss. 

"Yeah I haven't figured it out yet. hasn't happened, so we have to re-evaluate and see what happens."

Herbert had already lost two playoff games in 2022 and 2024. This was his third chance to progress to the next round. Unfortunately, the New England Patriots were in their way, who had won 3 out of 4 playoff games played between them. 

The 27-year-old never looked in complete control of his game, with the Patriots' defense always pressuring him.

Well, it’s safe to say that he crumbled under the pressure. He threw for 159 passing yards and scored 0 touchdowns, and was sacked 6 times.

Following today’s disappointing performance, his sack tally reached ‌60 this season, which is the highest among any quarterback.

With a lot of criticism against him, we have to wait and see how Herbert bounces back from this setback. 

Not scoring on two turnovers proved costly for Justin Herbert

Although the game was deemed “boring”, as no one could score a touchdown for a significant amount of time, the Chargers did get some chances. 

One of those chances occurred at the most favorable positions Herbert and company could’ve asked for. In the first quarter, Drake Maye conceded an interception by Daiyan Henley at NE 12, a position from which Herbert could’ve easily converted a touchdown, but he failed to do so. 

In the post-game press conference, Herbert addressed this issue. “Uh yeah, we just have to be able to score, and we didn’t do that today, you know, that’s on us as an offense.”

This was one of the few games where the Chargers failed to score a touchdown. Herbert has totaled 20 touchdowns for 3712 passing yards, along with‌ 498 rushing yards and a couple of scores.

Los Angeles will look forward to the new season and requirements in the market to support Herbert in any way that can. 

Written by

Kalp Thaker

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu