It’s a testament to the coaching of Jim Harbaugh that the Chargers have been decidedly un-Charger-like this season, continuing to win games despite a slew of pivotal injuries. They’re coming off back-to-back victories over the two teams in last season’s Super Bowl, Philadelphia and Kansas City.
Their challenge Sunday is beating the Cowboys, who went 3-1 in November but began this month with consecutive losses.
The Cowboys lead the league in offense, rolling up nearly 400 yards per game, but they’re 29th in total defense and last against the pass. Facing Justin Herbert is not a favorable matchup for them.
Dallas was eliminated from postseason contention with a Week 15 loss to Minnesota.
The Chargers can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss or tie by Indianapolis (versus San Francisco) or Houston (vs. Las Vegas).
How the Chargers can win: If Herbert has time, he should be able to dissect a suspect Cowboys secondary and relies heavily on zone coverage. That has led to a bunch of explosive plays. The Cowboys are vulnerable to the run, as well, and a balanced attack by the Chargers will take them a long way. Get another strong performance from the defense.
How the Cowboys can win: Be aggressive and play to win, not to protect leads. That means outscoring the Chargers, not settling for field goals because Brandon Aubrey is such a weapon. It would help the Cowboys to take some risks and go for it on fourth down more frequently. They can put points on the board, but more often they move the ball well between the 20s. Even a small improvement on defense would help.
The Chargers quarterback had passed for 139 yards and ran for 66 more in a 22-19 win just a week after undergoing surgery to stabilize a fracture in his non-throwing hand. Now, after one of the biggest wins of the season, he was hoping to receive good news about his injury despite being sacked a career-worst seven times.
The scans showed his hand was swollen, but it had improved since surgery, Herbert said. The results provided him with a sense of optimism heading into the Chargers’ AFC West showdown against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday at Arrowhead Stadium.
“I think compared to the days after surgery, I think it’s a lot better now,” Herbert said. “I think it was just sore. I think having played on it, using it, and kind of falling on it too, I think that kind of helped, and was some of the reason why it was sore.”
Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh described Herbert’s performance against the Eagles as “the most competitive thing” he ever saw. Herbert, however, gave a negative self-assessment — he threw an interception and lost the ball once on two fumbles. For Herbert, it wasn’t good enough for a Chargers team vying to reach the Super Bowl for the first time in more than three decades.
Offensive coordinator Greg Roman, who praised Herbert’s grit after the win over the Eagles, was proud to hear Herbert taking responsibility for his mistakes.
“First of all, I love that,” Roman said. “That tells me everything I need to know about that individual. … A great leader, setting a great example there. But on the flip side, he did what he had to do to win that game. He’s smart enough to recognize that that’s not how he wants to win every game, and he will adjust accordingly.”
Chargers center Bradley Bozeman, who has snapped the ball to Lamar Jackson, Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold and Bryce Young over his nine-year NFL career, said Herbert is one of one.
“He’s the best quarterback — no shot to any quarterback ever played with — but he’s the best quarterback ever,” said Bozeman, who joined the Chargers before the start of the 2024 season. “He’s committed to what he does. He’s tough as a damn nail.”
That toughness could prove to be too much for the Chiefs. A Chargers (9-4) win on Sunday (in combination with several other factors) could potentially eliminate Kansas City (6-7) from postseason contention for the first time since 2014.
Although the Chargers are trying to sweep the Chiefs for the first time since 2013, safety Derwin James Jr. knows they can’t underestimate a Kansas City team that has won the last nine division crowns. James, second on the Chargers in tackles (70), is expecting all the challenges that come with facing Patrick Mahomes at Arrowhead Stadium in 20-degree weather.
“Every time you go out there, everybody’s gonna play desperate to win, because they just want to win,” James said. “We’re desperate, they’re desperate — so let’s go out there and play.”
All that talk about the left hand of Justin Herbert, and it’s the right foot of Cameron Dicker that made the difference.
Dicker kicked five field goals Monday night to lift the Chargers to a 22-19 overtime victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in a wild, turnover-filled game at SoFi Stadium.
On a night when the teams combined for eight turnovers — including a career-high four interceptions by Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts — the game fittingly ended with an interception. Tony Jefferson latched onto a pass that was tipped by fellow Chargers defensive back Cam Hart, snuffing out the Eagles’ last chance.
Share via
Sam Farmer breaks down what went right for the Chargers in their 22-19 overtime win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night at SoFi Stadium.
So Dicker’s 54-yard field goal with 6:24 remaining in the extra period provided the margin of victory, just as it was Dicker who forced overtime with a 46-yarder in the waning moments of regulation.
“What a team we have,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said, practically shouting at the postgame podium. “That’s my reaction — what a team we have. They refuse to lose.”
It was practically do or die for a banged-up team that needed to win at least two of its final five games for a realistic chance at the playoffs. Now, the Chargers (9-4) need to win at least one of a brutal four-game stretch — at Kansas City and Dallas, at home against Houston, and a finale at AFC West-leading Denver, which has won 10 in a row.
Opportunity awaits, but it’s among the NFL’s toughest stretch runs.
That said, the Chargers are a tough team. They proved that throughout the near-constant reshuffling of their offensive line, the loss of their top two running backs — one of whom returned Monday night — and the injury to Herbert, who underwent surgery last Monday to repair a fracture in his non-throwing hand.
Harbaugh deemed the performance, “Great with a capital G.”
Despite a week of outside speculation about his availability, Herbert conceded after Monday’s game that he knew even before surgery that he wasn’t going to miss a game. He played with a small cast on his left hand and was even using that bandaged appendage to stiff-arm defenders. He was his team’s leading rusher with 10 carries for 66 yards.
“It felt like we were in a movie where the quarterback is doing these things and you get to the point where you go, ‘OK, this is getting a little unrealistic,’” Harbaugh said. “That’s what it felt like to me.”
Nonetheless, Herbert absorbed a beating. He was sacked a career-high seven times and hit 11 more, and didn’t have a healthy left arm to break his fall, so more than once he was violently slammed to the turf.
“He definitely sets the standard,” Chargers guard Mekhi Becton said of the quarterback. “For him to get surgery a week ago and be back on the field today, it’s contagious, for sure. It makes you want to go hard for him.”
Philadelphia was in prime position to forge another tie in overtime. The Eagles (8-5) answered Dicker’s fifth field goal by driving to the Chargers’ 41, the outer edge of kicker Jake Elliott’s range. They wanted to get a little closer, however, so the offense stayed on the field for a fourth and four.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert tries to get rid of the ball while being sacked during the first half Monday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That’s when Chargers defensive lineman Odafe Oweh was flagged for a neutral-zone infraction, giving the visitors a first down. A couple of completed passes and the Eagles had a first down on the 17 — and that’s when Hurts was intercepted for a fourth and final time.
Hurts had just two interceptions in his first 12 games this season. At one point in the second quarter, he had both an interception and a fumble on the same play. His pass over the middle was picked off by Da’Shawn Hand, who subsequently fumbled. Hurts got the ball back but he too fumbled, and the Chargers wound up with it.
“This was a Super Bowl QB, so we have a lot of respect for what he’s done,” Jefferson said of Hurts, who was Most Valuable Player in the victory over Kansas City last February. “But we wanted to come out and showcase our brand of football.”
All the Chargers defenders were awarded a game ball, as was defensive coordinator Jesse Minter.
Herbert got one as well.
“I just think about the guys in that locker room,” he said. “They do it for us. So many guys fight through things worse than what I’m going through. It’s the least I can do to show up and give my best.
“I draw a lot of inspiration from those guys, and hopefully I can have an impact on them too.”
The quarterback showed his grit — decidedly not a left-handed compliment.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert grimaces in pain after being tackled by Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Quinyon Mitchell in the second half Monday night.
