Justin Herbert, who signed a $218.7 million contract extension in the offseason, is one of the NFL’s most talented quarterbacks. No one debates that.
He has a career passer rating of 96.7, with 103 touchdowns and 37 interceptions. We’re talking about a dude with 24 300-yard games and 17 with at least three touchdown passes.
Herbert threw for 5,014 yards in 2021, but the Los Angeles Chargers need more. They need him to make more plays at winning time. His career record is 27-27, with many close losses.
The Chargers’ three losses this season have been by a combined seven points. They’ve lost 19 games by a touchdown or less since he arrived in the league, including 12 by three points or less.
That’s why it matters that Herbert has thrown 13 interceptions in the fourth quarter of one-score games. No one has thrown more since 2020.
It happened again Sunday night against Dallas.
The Cowboys only sacked Herbert once, but they pressured him on 47.6 percent of his dropbacks. He completed 22 of 37 passes for 227 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. But he missed a wide-open Keenan Allen twice on throws that might have resulted in touchdowns. Allen finished with seven catches for 85 yards and a touchdown, but he could’ve had a much bigger night.
“I missed a couple of receivers. Threw some bad passes. There was a lot left out there. There’s a lot to work on and a lot to improve on,” Herbert said. “Keenan ran two great routes, and I missed him. That’s on me as a quarterback. We have those explosive opportunities, and we have to capitalize on those.
“That’s a really good defense that we’re going up against. I can’t miss those like that and expect to continue to get back on third down and get back on track on second down. Tough opportunities. We’ll watch the film and be critical on ourselves.”
Trailing 20-17 with 2:19 left, Herbert had the ball and a chance to direct a game-winning drive — or at least get the game to overtime. On third-and-10, Stephon Gilmore intercepted Herbert’s pass and ended the game.
Tough road ahead for Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Now, the Chargers are 2-3, and they travel to Kansas City on Sunday.
“They’ve got a really good front seven,” Herbert said after the game. “I thought our offensive line battled, and they did a great job upfront. Unfortunately, we fell short. I have to make more plays as a quarterback.
“I think we can do a lot better on offense. Especially at quarterback, I can play a lot better. I thought the defense came up with some big stops today. Held them when we needed them to. It’s on us as an offense.”
The Chiefs have won five straight and lead the AFC West by two games. A second loss will basically end the Chargers’ faint hopes to win the division but also put a dent in their positioning for a wild card spot in the playoffs.
“I just expect for him to bounce back and play his game. He doesn’t need to do anything more than that,” Chargers coach Brandon Staley said. “There’s going to be some tough games for players. I think it’s noticeable for Justin because he doesn’t have very many of them in four years. You can point to one because there just hasn’t been very many.
“Justin just needs to keep being the player that he is and not doing anything more than that and just playing his type of ball and leading us, impacting us like he always does. We know he’s going to bounce back. It’s going to start on the practice field. He pours in all the right work, and excited to see him back on the practice field. I know he’ll respond in the right way.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is the NFL Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter. He’s the author of Coach Prime: Deion Sanders and the Making of Men.