The Chargers are a flat-out disaster, sitting at a brutal 0-7, and while you can spread the blame around, Justin Herbert’s performance this season is absolutely brutal. The guy, once a Pro-Bowler, has double the interceptions as he does passing touchdowns. It’s an ugly year, L.A.’s offense hasn’t had a single clean game, and offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s job is on the hot seat. But let’s be real, Herbert needs to own some of this mess too.
A Baffling Touchdown Drought
Get this: Herbert now has nine consecutive starts without throwing multiple touchdowns, a streak that stretches all the way back to 2025. You know who beat that in Chargers history? Only Ryan Leaf, with 12 straight. Think about that for a second. For a quarterback who was once hyped as one of the NFL’s elite, it’s just baffling. High-level QBs can be turnover machines, sure, but they usually balance it out by racking up touchdowns. Herbert hasn’t even had a single game with more than one touchdown this season. This streak is already longer than anything Philip Rivers ever had. What happened?
The Interceptions Are Piling Up in Historic Fashion
If the lack of touchdowns wasn’t enough, the interceptions are a whole other story. Herbert has thrown 10 touchdowns in seven games this season. That’s a grim stat on its own, but here’s the kicker: he has also thrown 10 interceptions in those same seven games. That’s right, he matched his *combined* interception total from the 2023 and 2024 seasons in just seven starts this year. Across those two earlier seasons, he threw exactly 10 picks over 30 games. Chargers fans probably hoped that 10 interceptions in seven games would at least mean he was putting up insane yards and touchdowns, but nope, that’s not the case. He’s also the only quarterback in the entire NFL this season to throw an interception in every single game, despite having played one fewer game than teams that haven’t hit their bye week yet. The team’s been waiting for a clean game from him to get things back on track, and it simply hasn’t happened.
A Club Nobody Wants to Join
After Sunday’s loss to the Rams, Herbert joined a very exclusive, and very unwanted, club in NFL history. He became only the fourth quarterback ever to start a season 0-7 with an interception and a loss in each of his first seven games. The names he now shares that club with are Steve DeBerg (1985), Dennis Shaw (1971), and Norm Snead (1961). That’s not exactly the kind of company you want to keep when your early career saw you rivaling the league’s elite. McDaniel’s offense has been absolutely abysmal through two months, and Herbert’s name is now being mentioned alongside Steve DeBerg. This is a far cry from the potential everyone saw in him.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
Leave a Reply