Chargers review: Where’s the late-game magic from QB Justin Herbert?
Here’s what we learned, what we heard and what comes next after the Chargers lost another nerve-jangling game, this time suffering a 27-24 overtime loss to the Tennessee Titans on Sunday in Nashville (suffering being the key word after they fell to 0-2 with a second straight narrow defeat):
CLOSING TIME?
Not only are the Chargers facing an 0-2 start to the season, but they’re also 0-2 when presented with a chance to drive for a winning touchdown. They couldn’t get it done in the final 1:45 against the Miami Dolphins in a 36-34 loss in Week 1. They had to settle for a tying field goal in the final 2:22 in Week 2.
The Chargers got inside the Titans’ 10-yard line but couldn’t score a touchdown. Herbert was sacked on a third-and-3 play at Tennessee’s 7-yard line, a loss of 8 yards. After a timeout with three seconds remaining in regulation, Cameron Dicker tied it at 24-24 with a 33-yard field goal with no time left.
Equally mystifying was their inability to gain an inch on their one and only possession in overtime Sunday against the Titans. Three quick misfires from quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers’ offense was back on the sideline, watching the Titans drive for Nick Folk’s winning 41-yard field goal.
Herbert earned his mammoth five-year, $262.5 million contract extension because he was expected to deliver the goods in crunch time. So far this season, he has come up with two credible performances. Overall, he’s completed 50 of 74 passes for 534 yards and three touchdowns with zero interceptions.
It’s the incredible part that’s been missing.
Where is the magic?
Where is the spark?
Where are the victories?
“We’ve got a quarterback who’s as good as anybody in the NFL, a guy who’s brought us back time and time again since I’ve been here and throughout his entire football playing career,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley said after Sunday’s loss, which dropped Herbert’s career individual record to 25-26 in regular-season games.
Herbert also has a 0-1 playoff record.
Yes, he has the makings of a Pro Bowl quarterback for years to come.
It’s the bottom-line results that are lacking to start the 2023 season.
“We have 15 games ahead of us,” Staley said, attempting to put the best (only?) spin possible on a winless start. “We lost two really tough games right there at the end, an overtime game and one that may as well have been an overtime game. So, we’re doing a lot of good things out there. The mistakes that we made out there, we can correct all of them. We’ve got a really good group in all three phases, and we just have to connect and really put together a complete performance.”
So far, the Chargers are 0-2 in that regard, too.
BIG PLAY BUGABOOS
The Chargers’ defense was a mixed bag Sunday. On one hand, they limited bruising running back Derrick Henry to 3.2 yards per carry (80 yards and one touchdown on 25 carries), and they sacked quarterback Ryan Tannehill five times for a total of 46 yards in losses.
On the other hand, they were torched on several occasions for big yardage gains, including 70- and 49-yard passing plays from Tannehill first to Treylon Burks, which jarred the Titans awake, and then Chris Moore. Henry’s longest run covered 23 yards.
Giving up large chunks of real estate was an issue last season and, apparently, it is again to start this season despite plenty of chatter during training camp that the problem had been addressed and things would be different in 2023. So far, the message hasn’t been received.
“Our guys just have to respect the deep part of the field,” Staley said of failing to defend long passes adequately. “We’re moving the hard downs around, but our guys got a winning pass coverage and they got to respect the deep part of the field and they got to know who on the other team can get there.”
WHAT COMES NEXT?
Every game in the NFL (and all sports, come to think of it) is a must-win. But next Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium really seems like it’s a must-win game if the Chargers are going to avoid the daunting prospect of turning around a season that has started horribly wrong.