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Justin Herbert nonetheless thinks about that day.
Trying to find his first-career postseason win on Jan. 11 2025, Herbert and the Chargers entered with excessive hopes after incomes the No. 5 seed within the AFC playoffs and taking up the Texans. As a substitute of a second price celebrating, that day shortly turned to despair because the Chargers left NRG Stadium with a 32-12 loss that ended their season.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t the loss that ate at Herbert. It was how they misplaced.
Within the worst efficiency of his profession, Herbert threw a career-high 4 interceptions, took 4 sacks, accomplished a career-worst 43.8 p.c of his passes and posted a 40.9 passer score — one other career-low.
“I let the group down,” Herbert stated afterward. “You’ll be able to’t flip over the ball like that and count on to win. I put the group in a tricky place there with 4 turnovers like that.”
Precisely one 12 months later, Herbert has an opportunity to safe that elusive postseason win when Los Angeles faces the Patriots on Sunday. Kickoff towards New England is about for five p.m. PT on NBC/Peacock.
“It was a kind of issues that you simply proceed to consider,” Herbert instructed reporters in December. “Nobody felt worse than I did after that recreation. And I believe it’s vital to proceed to maneuver ahead and notice that it’s what occurred. It might be loopy of me to disclaim the reality of what occurred and to reside on this actuality the place if I attempted to dam it out, I don’t assume that’s doing any good.”
It’s been a miraculous season for Herbert and the Chargers, ending 11-6 and securing the No. 7 seed within the AFC.
Armed with among the best deal with duos within the NFL, Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt by no means performed a snap collectively this season. Slater tore his patellar tendon throughout coaching camp and underwent season-ending surgical procedure. Alt was misplaced for the season after he underwent season-ending surgical procedure for a proper ankle damage he aggravated following a win over Tennessee on Nov. 2.
Along with his two Professional Bowl tackles completed for the 12 months, Herbert spent a lot of the season behind a makeshift offensive line that ranked among the many worst within the league.
Heading right into a Week 18 showdown with the Broncos the place the Chargers rested nearly all of their starters, Los Angeles’ offensive line ranked final in cross block win charge and second-to-last in run block win charge. Their 29 completely different offensive line combos was the third-most within the NFL.
Regardless of these tribulations, Herbert nonetheless threw for 3,727 and 26 touchdowns, totals that rank within the high 10. He additionally added profession highs of 83 rushes for 498 yards and 6.0 yards per carry.
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