FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The 2025 season was supposed to be different for the Los Angeles Chargers, a team that made an improbable playoff run despite injuries to some of its best players.
But it ended like it always has for this era of the franchise, with a dejected Justin Herbert taking responsibility for an uncharacteristically poor performance in a playoff loss. This time, it was a 16-3 defeat to the New England Patriots on Sunday night.
“I didn’t play well enough and didn’t make any plays,” he said. “And when it mattered most, we didn’t score any points.”
Herbert finished 19-of-31 passing, with 159 yards and no touchdowns. He led the Chargers with 55 rushing yards.
Herbert was one of the league’s best quarterbacks this season, navigating behind one of the league’s worst offensive lines and willing the Chargers to 11 wins. But Sunday, he looked far from the player he had been in the regular season.
On the Chargers’ opening drive, he had a wide-open Ladd McConkey running across the field for what likely would have been a significant gain, if not a touchdown, but Herbert scrambled for a 9-yard run instead. On a third-and-7 in the third quarter, McConkey sprinted past the Patriots’ secondary, but Herbert underthrew him. Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones broke up the pass.
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When asked how he assessed what he saw on the field Sunday, Herbert was blunt: “Obviously, not well enough.”
Herbert thrived at finding lanes as the pocket collapsed this season, finishing with a career-high 498 rushing yards. For most of Sunday’s game, the Chargers gave Herbert plenty of protection, and he made questionable decisions.
On the second of six Patriots sacks Sunday, Herbert drifted around the pocket before slipping on the grass and falling. The sack was credited to Patriots outside linebacker K’Lavon Chaisson, who pounced on Herbert while he was on the field.
“Quarterback play wasn’t good enough,” Herbert said.
Herbert is winless in the postseason, with each of his three losses coming in embarrassing fashion and highlighted by poor performances that don’t match his regular-season play. When he’s playing well, he looks like one of the league’s best quarterbacks. He earned his second Pro Bowl honor this season. But Herbert hasn’t yet shown up in the postseason.
When asked about his confidence in eventually getting his first career playoff win, he didn’t have a clear answer.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t figured it out yet, and it hasn’t happened,” he said. “So, we’ll have to reevaluate and see what happens.”
Though Herbert struggled, the Chargers’ defense kept it close. The Chargers’ defensive line put pressure on Patriots quarterback Drake Maye throughout the game, sacking him five times and forcing two turnovers.
Outside linebacker Odafe Oweh, whom the Chargers acquired in October, finished with three sacks, a single-game postseason franchise record, and a forced fumble. The Patriots finally got into the end zone with 9:52 left in the fourth quarter, when Maye found tight end Hunter Henry for a 28-yard score.
“We let the defense down today,” Herbert said.
The Chargers are 0-2 in the postseason under coach Jim Harbaugh, and both losses were marred by abysmal offensive performances. Harbaugh was asked multiple times Sunday whether offensive coordinator Greg Roman was the right playcaller, and Harbaugh repeatedly said he didn’t have an answer.
“We’re going to look at that and everything,” he said.
Harbaugh defended Herbert’s performance, calling him a “warrior.” In the locker room, teammates did the same, lauding Herbert’s toughness amid six sacks and a season when he played through a fractured left hand.
“I don’t think he did anything wrong,” right guard Mekhi Becton said, adding that “when we’ve got No. 10 back there, we can do anything.”
