These Justin Herbert Wild Card stats will haunt Chargers fans

Well, that didn’t go well. The Los Angeles Chargers were favorites with 2.5 points for visiting against Houston Texas. Rec Ryan suggested that the game was basically a bye week for the Chargerswhich would easily roll over the AFC South champions. But that’s why they play games. Houston took Los Angeles out of the woodshed, defeating the Chargers 32-12 in the Wild Card round. Even worse than LA’s early playoff exit was the quarterback Justin Herbert‘s the abomination of the game.

Herbert’s playoff performance against the Texans was the second-worst of any EPA quarterback in the last 10 seasons per pass game, per the Ringer’s Sheil Kapadia at Ks. Herbert ranks 213th out of 214 quarterbacks in that span. The only passer to have a worst day in the last decade was Brian Hoyer, who “led” the Texans to a 30-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2015.

That’s not good. Herbert was a master at protecting the ball for the Chargers during the regular season, amassing 3,870 passing yards with 23 touchdowns and just three interceptions. But on Saturday afternoon in Houston, LA’s signal caller went 14/32 for 242 yards with one score and four interceptions.

Justin Herbert and the Chargers are playoff done

Of course, when any pro quarterback has such a terrible outing, it’s bad luck. And that was the case for Herbert as multiple passes bounced off his intentions and into the hands of Texans defenders. But Herbert looked lost against Houston’s defense, unable to consistently move the ball. After receiving the gift of an terrible turn by CJ Stroud in the second quarter, which put the Chargers in Texas territory, Herbert not only failed to capitalize, but threw a pick on the very next play.

The effect of the breakdown was well roasted by fansand deservedly so. Especially after so many observers looked past Stroud and the Texans in the Wild Card round.

Herbert has put together a very impressive resume over his first five seasons in the league, including winning Offensive Rookie of the Year in 2020 and making the Pro Bowl in 2021. He even racked up 5,000 passing yards and threw for 38 touchdowns in his second season.

Now paired with the prized one Jim Harbaughfans can expect Herbert to return to the playoffs soon, especially after the team irons out some playmaking deficiencies. But a four-interception choke in the Wild Card round is the kind of thing that can stick to a quarterback, if he doesn’t put up some big stats to overshadow a disastrous performance.