Carry on my wayward son
There’ll be piece when Staley’s gone
You’d be hard-pressed to find a quarterback- or hell, any player in general- who receives more unwarranted scrutiny than Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert.
Los Angeles currently sits at the bottom of the AFC West, despite Herbert having one of the best seasons of his career. The former No, 6 overall pick is currently fifth in the NFL in touchdown passes (20) and fifth in QBR (69.9). Herbert is also top 10 in EPA/play, adjusted EPA/play, and EPA+CPOE composite, and he is eighth in the NFL in DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement).
You get the point- Justin Herbert is awesome. The only issue is that everything else about the Chargers isn’t. The Bolts are 28th in defensive DVOA and have allowed the fourth-most yards in the NFL. None of this is new, either. The Chargers finished 23rd in yards allowed in 2021, and 20th in 2022. Since the start of the 2021 season, Los Angeles is 28th in EPA/play with the quote unquote “defensive prodigy” Brandon Staley.
The Chargers had a ton of problems before Staley showed up- Anthony Lynn was far from a perfect head coach when it came to clock management- but the defense has gotten worse since his arrival, not better. Not to mention all of the extremely questionable decisions in terms of going for it on fourth , down, playing Mike Williams in a meaningless game before the playoffs in which Williams got hurt, etc. Staley has been far from a savior since being named head coach in 2021, and has been more of a problem creator rather than a problem solver.
Masquerading as a man with a reason
And it appears that hope is lost for this season
It seems that every week, the Chargers are in a close game, and almost always lose them. Los Angeles is 2-5 in one-score games this season, scoring 34 or more points in two of those losses.
In Week 1, Herbert and the offense took a 31-27 lead against the Dolphins in the fourth quarter, and led 34-30 with less than four minutes to play. All the defense needed to do was keep the Dolphins out of the end zone. Instead, Tua Tagovailoa and Tyreek Hill connected on a touchdown, and the Chargers would lose 36-34 after their defense gave up 536 of total offense to Miami.
The next week against the Titans, Herbert connected with Keenan Allen early in the fourth quarter for a touchdown to give the Chargers a 21-17 lead. The defense gave up a late touchdown, to which the offense responded with a field goal to send the game into overtime, which they would go onto lose.
How about against the Packers? Herbert threw a touchdown pass to Keenan Allen with just over five minutes to go to give the Chargers a 20-16 lead- the defense turned around the let the packers score in less than three minutes. Herbert then threw a perfect deep pass down the sideline to Quentin Johnston who dropped the pass, and ultimately the game, and Los Angeles went on to lose.
All Herbert has done all season is put the Chargers in position to win, and all they have done, in turn, is let him down. And the future doesn’t look bright. Keenan Allen is the only reliable receiver on the roster, and he is going to be 32 next season. Plus, look at the list of current players who will be free agents this offseason. Austin Ekeler, Gerald Everett, Michael Davis, Kenneth Murray, Austin Johnson- all will be free agents in 2024. How about 2025? Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Asante Samuel Jr, are all going to be free agents.
Plus, the Chargers haven’t drafted well. The aforementioned Quentin Johnston was taken the pick before Zay Flowers. Derius Davis, the other TCU receiver they drafted in the fourth round, has largely been a non-factory. Safety JT Woods was a third-round pick last season and has played in 13 games. They wasted a fourth-round pick on Isaiah Spiller last year. There hasn’t been a rhyme or reason for a lot of these selections, and it’s impacted their current product, but also how they will attack team-building over the next handful of seasons.
The Chargers have failed Justin Herbert. And now, sitting at 4-7, the wayward son with the golden locks once again finds himself amidst noise and confusion, knowing that every lead is just an illusion. And it will remain that way until the Los Angeles Chargers get their act together, and help this prodigy soar ever higher.
