Los Angeles Chargers had secured a playoffs berth for the 2024 NFL season under head coach Jim Harbaugh, but were eliminated in the Wild Card round after a 32-12 loss to the Houston Texans. After the loss, all eyes were on quarterback Justin Herbert, who had a poor performance.
The current season was a significant improvement over the previous year’s 5-12 record. Offensively, however, the Chargers averaged 23.6 points per game, ranking 11th out of 32 teams. The number reflects the fact that Los Angeles’ offense was limited against stronger opponents.
In the game against the Texans, Herbert faced notable difficulties. The Chargers quarterback completed only 43.8% of his passes, threw for one touchdown and suffered 4 interceptions, one more than in the rest of the season. His passer rating at NRG Stadium was 40.9, the lowest of his career. While Houston’s defense pressured effectively, Harbaugh was self-critical of his game plan affecting Herbert’s role.
Harbaugh’s honest admission about Herbert after Chargers’ elimination
“It was completely unfair. We did him a disservice and didn’t put him in the positions to be successful enough, but he played like a beast. It didn’t go good, and that’s on me, that’s my responsibility, that’s my accountability,” Harbaugh sincerely admitted at a press conference about quarterback Herbert’s role in the loss to the Texans.
“I really felt going into that tournament that we were as good as the best teams in the playoffs. Not just as good as any team, but as good as the best teams in the playoffs. That day, we were not the better team that day. That’s my responsibility. We did not play complementary football well enough,” Harbaugh sentenced.
Herbert’s regular season with the Chargers
The game against the Texans was a bad night that did not showcase the good things Herbert did during the year. During the regular season, the Los Angeles quarterback accumulated 3,870 yards of total offense, threw 23 touchdown passes and suffered only 3 interceptions for a passer rating of 101.7. He also established a streak of 357 consecutive pass attempts without an interception between Weeks 2 and 14, the fifth-longest streak in NFL history.