Different team. Different time. But it’s back to the scene of the crime for the Chargers, who three years ago succumbed to a 27-point comeback in a playoff loss at Jacksonville.
This season’s Jaguars got off to a 4-1 start but have lost three of their last four to slip back into the pack. They don’t have star rookie Travis Hunter, who underwent surgery this week and will miss the remainder of the season.
The team plays hard for first-year coach Liam Coen, who said he wants quarterback Trevor Lawrence to “cut it loose and let it rip” when he sees opportunities down the field.
After opening the season 3-0, the Chargers lost three of four, but are now riding another three-game winning streak. Justin Herbert has been outstanding at times, despite being the most-hit quarterback in the NFL.
The Chargers defense is coming off a gem of a performance in a win over Pittsburgh. Aaron Rodgers looked every bit of 41 years old, and at one point the Steelers were 0 for 9 on third down.
How the Chargers can win: As usual, protect Herbert behind a patchwork offensive line. Jacksonville has struggled to pressure quarterbacks, especially with Travon Walker at less than full strength and a beat-up secondary. Get the ball to Ladd McConkey and Oronde Gadsden II, with some Keenan Allen mixed in. Don’t allow the Jaguars to control the game with the run.
How the Jaguars can win: Jacksonville can look like a playoff team when it wins at the line of scrimmage but tends to collapse when it gets pushed around. The Jaguars need to establish the run early and grind out some long drives because they do not get a lot of explosive plays. Get to Herbert quickly before he has a chance to attack that weakened secondary. Contain Herbert, too, because he can burn you with his feet.
Not for the Chargers, whose defense put the clamps on the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 25-10 victory before a sea of black-and-gold-clad fans and a national TV audience.
Neither team had many offensive highlights — or first downs, for that matter — but the Chargers did enough to win their third game in a row, something they hadn’t done since the first three games of the season.
You might call the Chargers inhospitable, seeing as the Steelers came into the game averaging 25.3 points. You might call the Steelers inhospitable for filling SoFi Stadium with Pittsburgh fans.
The Terrible Towels were everywhere, but there were precious few opportunities to swirl them. By the fourth quarter, thousands of those fans were streaming for the exits. The Steelers were held to 11 first downs, converted two of 11 third downs and generated 221 total yards.
Aaron Rodgers looked every bit of his 41 years. He was sacked three times, intercepted twice, brought down in the end zone for a safety and he finished with an anemic passer rating of 50.6.
The Steelers looked nothing like the team that forced six turnovers against Indianapolis the week before and handed the Colts just their second loss.
In the waning moments, Keenan Allen caught a pop pass and ran seven yards to become the Chargers’ all-time receptions leader (956), surpassing Hall of Fame tight end Antonio Gates.
Rodgers couldn’t establish anything close to an offensive rhythm, and Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert took an all-too-familiar beating, playing behind an offensive line that has had 19 different combinations this season.
Herbert was sacked five times, a week after the Tennessee Titans got to him six times.
Chargers linebacker Bud Dupree dances after sacking Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The Steelers scored first with a 59-yard field goal by Chris Boswell in the opening quarter, but after that it was virtually all Chargers. Cameron Dicker had three field goals, and Ladd McConkey and Kimani Vidal scored touchdowns.
Rodgers threw a 27-yard touchdown pass to Roman Wilson with 2 minutes 57 seconds remaining, but that was merely a cosmetic score that made the game appear a bit closer.
Herbert took a hit from behind in the second quarter, was slow to his feet and got both ankles taped on the sideline.
According to NBC, he came into the game having been pressured an average of 17 times per game, more than any other quarterback this season, and having absorbed an average of nine hits per game, second-highest for an NFL quarterback in the last 20 seasons.
Even though they leaned into a bunch of quick-developing pass plays to get the ball out of Herbert’s hands quickly, the Chargers still saw their quarterback knocked down time and again. His passes were batted down at the line of scrimmage too, with one winding up back in Herbert’s hands for a reception (although that was wiped out by a Pittsburgh penalty).
The Chargers’ defense got to Rodgers as well, putting the first points on the scoreboard for the home team by sacking the future Hall of Famer in the end zone.
The Chargers next head to Jacksonville. The Jaguars, who got off to a 4-1 start, have lost three of four.
Jacksonville is the site of a horrible memory for the Chargers, who blew a 27-point lead there to suffer a one-point loss in a January 2023 playoff game.
Trevor Penning couldn’t help but smile and chuckle after arriving in the brisk El Segundo weather from New Orleans early Wednesday morning.
It was fewer than 24 hours after he’d been told of the trade of which he wasn’t expecting, standing in front of his new end-of-the-hallway locker in the Chargers’ clubhouse. A placard listing Penning’s high school-recruiting rating, and the schools he attended, had yet to be placed atop his stall next to long snapper Josh Harris.
“It’s pretty crazy — overnight,” said the fourth-year offensive lineman, a former 2022 first-round draft pick of the Saints. “You get five more wins on [the record]. … I’m excited to be here.”
Penning, acquired by the Chargers (6-3) just before the NFL trade deadline Tuesday — New Orleans received a 2027 sixth-round draft pick in exchange for the 6-foot-7, 325-pound tackle — joins a team fighting with the Broncos atop the AFC West.
When the Northern Iowa alumnus checked into the Saints’ facility Monday, he was on a team with the worst record (1-8) in the NFC.
Now, Penning will try to bolster the Chargers’ protection of quarterback Justin Herbert, who has been sacked 28 times — third most among all NFL quarterbacks this season. The Chargers were in desperate need of a lineman after losing offensive tackle Joe Alt to a season-ending ankle injury.
“[Penning’s] just getting the basics down of just getting our cadences and getting adjusted to our play calls and things like that,” Herbert said. “Obviously, I’ve known of him, and obviously, [I’m] a big fan. A lot of respect for his game. It’s a cool opportunity — I’m sure he’ll pick up the offense very quickly.”
Penning said that he, like many football players and fans, had been familiar with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh‘s attitude and approach while growing up. The formerly unranked high school prospect from Clear Lake, Iowa — turned Missouri Valley Football Conference star — said he believed his traits on and off the field match the Chargers’ culture.
“It’s good to hear,” Harbaugh said when asked about Penning’s comments. “I like guys who like football. Guys who like football seem to like me back. … [Penning] strikes me as a guy who’s all about his business, and came in [and] has done everything right. Really happy that we have him on our team.”
The Chargers have worked Penning at both tackle spots during practice this week. He played left tackle in 2022 and 2023, right tackle in 2024, and some left guard in 2025.
Where and how Penning fits is still a question waiting to be answered, and Sunday’s game against the Steelers could provide answers.
Penning is ready for the fresh start awaiting him.
“I’m excited to play anywhere they need me,” Penning said. “I think I have the versatility.”
NASHVILLE — The Chargers won the battle but lost the warrior.
They held off the Tennessee Titans 27-20, but saw their outstanding left tackle Joe Alt go down with the same injured ankle that sidelined him earlier this season.
It was a troubling and ominous blow Sunday to a franchise that’s in a constant state of reshuffling its offensive line and unable to sufficiently protect quarterback Justin Herbert. Before losing Alt, the Chargers lost right tackle Bobby Hart to what they called a groin injury (but looked to be a hurt leg).
On a cool and overcast day, the Chargers had enough to get past the one-win Titans — the Chargers (6-3) were favored by 9½ points — but will face far stiffer competition in the second half of the season. The Titans haven’t won at home since last Nov. 4.
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh helps offensive tackle Bobby Hart off the field in the first half.
(John Amis / Associated Press)
Herbert, who ran for 62 yards in the Week 8 win over Minnesota, again provided the bulk of the Chargers’ running game. He led all rushers with 57 yards in nine carries, including a one-yard touchdown.
The Titans fired coach Brian Callahan last month after the team got off to a 1-5 start, putting in place interim coach Mike McCoy, who was head coach of the San Diego Chargers from 2013 to 2016.
The Chargers absorbed a huge blow in the second quarter when Alt went down with an ankle injury, the same ankle that caused him to miss three games earlier this season. Alt, the best player on the offensive line, had returned for the Week 8 game against Minnesota and his presence was noticeable in both run blocking and protection of Herbert’s blind side.
Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston catches a touchdown pass next to Tennessee Titans cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis during the first half Sunday.
(John Amis / Associated Press)
But Sunday, he was felled by 285-pound Titans edge rusher Jihad Ward, who was blocked into the back of Alt’s legs. Alt sat on the turf for a few minutes, surrounded by Chargers medical staff, before a cart rolled onto the field to take him off.
It was the latest setback for an offensive line besieged by them this season, and an indication that Herbert will remain the most hit and harassed quarterback in the league this season.
Even though the Titans were without defensive tackle Jeffrey Simmons, their best player, Herbert was still under near-constant pressure.
Herbert threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half, although his first throw was abysmal. It was straight into the arms of Tennessee linebacker Cody Barton, who turned the visitors’ second play from scrimmage into a 24-yard pick-six.
As he does virtually every week, Herbert picked up some big gains with his feet. He had a 39-yard scramble in the second quarter, and rolled out in the fourth and scored his first rushing touchdown of the season, sliding in from a yard out. That capped a 15-play, nine-minute, 99-yard drive in response to a goal-line stand.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert is sacked by Tennessee Titans linebacker Jihad Ward during the second half Sunday.
(George Walker IV / Associated Press)
The Titans (1-8), who have had troubles moving the ball in the red zone, scored their second touchdown of the half on a 67-yard punt return by rookie Chimere Dike, who leads the NFL in all-purpose yards.
Those issues in the red zone were on display in the third quarter, when the Titans had four plays inside the 10 and couldn’t score, including third and fourth downs from the one.
Anchoring the middle of the Chargers’ defense was Daiyan Henley, playing two days after his older brother was shot and killed. After a sack in the first half, the third-year linebacker dropped to his knees and turned his palms to the sky and held out his hands in prayer.
Edge rusher Odafe Oweh had a pair of sacks, bringing his total to four in four games since being traded to the Chargers by Baltimore last month.
