Justin Herbert placed the blame on himself after he and the Los Angeles Chargers suffered a season-ending 16-3 loss to the New England Patriots on Sunday night in the wild-card round of the NFL playoffs.
“I didn’t play well enough and didn’t make any plays,” the former Oregon Ducks star quarterback told reporters. “And when it mattered most, we didn’t score any points.”
Herbert fell to 0-3 in his career in the NFL playoffs, previously losing wild-card games to end the 2022 and 2024 seasons.
The Patriots sacked Herbert six times and held the Chargers’ passing game in check all night. Herbert finished 19 of 31 for 159 yards with no touchdowns. He was effective when he scrambled, picking up 57 yards on 10 carries to lead Los Angeles in rushing, but also lost a fumble.
Herbert, 27, said the Chargers offense let down the defense by failing to convert more on third down (1 of 10) and score points in the red zone (0 for 2).
“We weren’t good enough,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters, adding: “I really don’t have the answers” and “It really falls on me that we weren’t at our best tonight.”
But Harbaugh defended the play of Herbert, calling him a “warrior doing anything and everything he could.”
Herbert had another strong regular season, throwing for 3,727 yards, 26 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. But a playoff victory eluded him once again.
Asked whether he felt Herbert’s performance matched his typical level of play, Harbaugh said: “I do, yeah. He just gives it everything he has all the time.”