INGLEWOOD, Calif. – At the end of the first half, the Los Angeles Chargers looked like they would be on cruise control to their fourth straight win. After all, everything that went right for the Chargers went wrong for the Cincinnati Bengals.
“They got all the momentum. We started getting some three and outs on offense and we gave up touchdowns on several back-to-back drives there. Just needed a break, needed halftime, needed to readjust and just get our feet underneath us and get guys confidence in each other,” Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor said.
The Bengals’ struggles on both sides of the ball in the first half were perfectly summed up in the second quarter. The Chargers scored 17 points in the period, while Cincinnati dropped a total of three points.
All Joe Burrow and the Bengals could do was put up a field goal. At the end of the half, the Chargers were up 18 points and practically walking away from the Bengals.
Burrow, who wound up completing 28 of 50 passes for 356 yards and three touchdowns in the loss, could not pinpoint what exactly caused the Bengals’ offense to go sideways in the first two quarters.
“It’s tough to say,” Burrow quipped. “We moved the ball, we settled for two field goals and then their front was disruptive today.”
The Chargers defense gave up one first down in the second quarter while holding Cincinnati to a net 13 yards in offense. Meanwhile, quarterback Justin Herbert and the Chargers offense were having their way with the Cincinnati defense, rolling with 14 first downs in the period and bumping up their advantage to 24-6.
When you’re down like we were down and we weren’t generating a lot of momentum our way, guys are frustrated,” remarked Taylor. “We get into halftime and settle down. It’s okay for guys to show emotion. It’s okay for guys to be frustrated. That doesn’t bother me. We just got to take a deep breath, and we did, and there was still confidence in the locker room.”
This game looked like it was headed to be a walkover in favor of the Chargers. If this was a boxing match, the Chargers had set the Bengals up for an early TKO, but couldn’t deliver the knockout punch until late in the game.
Running back J.K. Dobbins did the honors when he busted loose for a 29-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds left in the game to close out a 34-27 win for the Chargers at SoFi Stadium.
It was a great result for Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh and his ballclub.
“All three phases, I’ll go through them,” Harbaugh said. “On offense, we were at our best when our best was needed. Defense was at our best when our best was needed. Special teams, we were at our best when our best was needed. It’s a complete team effort in doing that. But all three phases stepped up and played their best football when our best football was needed the most.”
Leading the charge to the win for the Chargers was Herbert, who put on his multidimensional hat and did what it took for his ballclub to come out of this game victorious.
Herbert led the Chargers in rushing with 65 yards and passed for an additional 297 yards and two touchdowns.
“I could tell with [QB] Justin [Herbert] it was in pregame,” Harbaugh said. “I’m around it every day but every ball was tight and coming out so good, so accurate. I just could feel it and see it, that he was going to have a big night for us.”
When his team needed it, Herbert marched the Chargers down the field on the game-winning drive like a machine after Burrow and the Bengals had got themselves back into the ballgame with 21 unanswered points.
“We just went out there and had another opportunity,” Herbert said. “Shout-out to the defense for giving us that opportunity and we knew that we had to go make a play. It came down to that drive. [WR] Ladd [McConkey] had a couple great, big catches and [RB] J.K. [Dobbins] had that huge run. Props to the guys sticking through it, staying patient and getting the job done.”
Top Image Caption: Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers rushed for 65 yards in the team’s 34-27 win against the Cincinnati Bengals in an NFL game played at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California on Nov. 17, 2024. Photo credit: Melinda Meijer/News4usonline
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, race, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University. Email Dennis at dfreeman@news4usonline.com