Justin Herbert's Playoff Futility Continued in Chargers' Ugly Loss vs. Patriots

Herbert was bad against the Patriots, continuing a pattern of awful play in the postseason.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert had another bad playoff outing against the New England Patriots. / David Butler II-Imagn Images

Justin Herbert’s brutal showing in a wild-card round loss to the Patriots on Sunday was in line with his career playoff numbers. In three postseason games, the Chargers quarterback has been awful.

In New England’s 16–3 win Sunday night, Herbert completed 19-of-31 passes for 159 yards, with no touchdowns or interceptions. He was sacked six times and fumbled twice, losing one. His passer rating was a bleak 74.5.

The Patriots have a good defense, but Herbert led nine drives on Sunday night, and the Chargers scored once. On one of them, an interception gave L.A. the ball on New England’s 10-yard line, and in four plays, Herbert and Co. only gained eight yards and turned the ball over on downs. He got the Chargers inside the 10 again late in the first half but could only get to the 3-yard line before having to kick a field goal. The closest he got after that was New England’s 34-yard line.

Arguments could be made that Herbert didn’t have his two excellent tackles, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, as they both suffered season-ending injuries. It might not be fair to judge Herbert’s performance with a short-handed line in front of him. But this is nothing new. He’s been awful in the playoffs all three times he has been there.

Justin Herbert’s career playoff numbers

During the 2022 season, the Chargers faced the Jaguars in the wild-card round, and it was ugly. Los Angeles had a 27–0 lead late in the first half and wound up losing 31–30. Herbert was a big part of that loss, as he couldn’t get the offense moving in the second half.

Herbert finished that game 25-of-43, for 273 yards, with one touchdown, and no interceptions while taking three sacks. His passer rating for the game was 84.7, and his QBR was a below-average 47.7.

Last season, the L.A. traveled to face the Texans and got hammered 32–12 in a game that was nowhere as close as the score would indicate. Herbert had arguably the worst game of his career in that one. He completed 14-of-32 passes for 242 yards, with one touchdown and four interceptions. He was sacked four times and posted a brutal passer rating of 40.9, and a dismal QBR of 11.4

When you add all of that up, it’s pretty terrible.

In his three career postseason games combined, Herbert has completed 54.7% of his passes for 674 yards, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. He has taken 13 sacks in those games and has a passer rating of 78.4, and is averaging 6.36 yards per attempt.

Until he steps up and performs to the level of his enormous potential in the postseason, Herbert won’t shake the reputation he’s made for himself as an easy out in the playoffs.

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