Sunday took away any remaining benefit of the doubt the Los Angeles Chargers had left. LA’s offense keeps unraveling at a rate that’ll completely bury them by Week 6 or 7.
Leading the charge is Justin Herbert, who hasn’t looked right for a single snap this season.
And Jim Harbaugh was finally done unconditionally backing his quarterback, only to watch the whole thing flatline the very next week.
Jim Harbaugh Asks Justin Herbert to ‘Be Better’
”Be better. Be better,” Harbaugh said of Herbert’s decision-making. “And that drives Justin, that drives me, that drives his position coach, that drives Mike [McDaniel], the coordinator. I mean, drives us all.”
Everything that turns a quarterback’s season into a straight-up disaster is happening with Herbert.
Just last week, Harbaugh said he “wouldn’t change a thing about Justin.”
Throwing deep has been an absolute disaster for him. He’s sitting at 1-for-12 on passes, traveling 20+ air yards with three picks. Whenever he makes a pass, it basically looks like a prayer waiting to be answered.
Plus, he looks totally out of sync. Instead of that effortless, laser-armed rhythm we’re used to, Herbert’s holding onto the ball too long, second-guessing reads, and letting pass rushes swallow him alive.
Each game day he steps onto the field, Herbert looks uncomfortable between adjusting to the new offensive system and receivers running the wrong way. The offense being just as disheveled makes things worse for him.
Even when the defense hands them short fields or turnovers, Herbert and the unit stall out, missing basic execution when it matters most.
That’s exactly what went down this Sunday too, during their 24-16 loss to the Bills. The Chargers’ defense forced a whopping five turnovers against Josh Allen (three fumbles lost and two interceptions, and the offense still couldn’t translate those to any real success all afternoon.
They went 1-for-4 in the red zone in the entire four quarters, and Herbert even gave away one costly interception to C.J. Gardner-Johnson, as he finished with 20-of-34 for 226 yards and 1 touchdown.
Tom Brady Takes a Shot at Justin Herbert
Even color commentator Tom Brady couldn’t help but call out the terrible decision-making on Herbert’s part.
”Poor awareness, poor decision. Throws him a meatball sub,” Tom Brady said on Sunday.
It isn’t going to get any easier in the upcoming weeks, either. In fact, the early weeks were supposed to be the easier games.
Seattle, Denver and Kansas City are next before the bye, followed by the Rams, Texans and Ravens. There are 14 games left, and the math says it’s not over. If they continue down the spiral, it will soon be.
The offense issues keep piling up before the Bolts can even manage to hope for a win next week. According to CBS Sports’ Tyler Sullivan, “This unit, with new offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel — and Greg Roman before him — has now scored fewer than 17 points in six straight games, including last postseason.”
“We want to be better, we got to be better. We got to look at our scheme,” Harbaugh added.
That’s the same old broken record Harbaugh’s been playing since the Week 1 loss with no results. We’ll see if it holds up any better in Week 4.
“We’ve got to look at how we’re performing, how we’re doing things, and who’s doing it.”
Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh Finally Snaps at Justin Herbert After 0-3 Start