Chargers knocked out from the playoffs 

Quarterback Justin Herbert is still looking for his first playoff win. Jim Harbaugh was brought in after Brandon Staley and Anthony Lynn to be the guy to help Herbert reach that achievement. 

So far, Harbaugh has taken two swings at it, but has come up empty with two strikes. The Chargers are 0-2 in the postseason under Harbaugh.    

The Chargers lost their Wild Card playoff game to the New England Patriots, and now self-reflection on what happened, how it happened are questions that are sure to come up to the surface during the offseason. 

The Chargers have not advanced past the Wild Card game since the 2019 playoffs following the 2018 NFL season.  

The biggest culprit for the Chargers against the Patriots was third down efficiency. The Chargers converted just 1 of 10 attempts and scored just three points in a 16-3 defeat. 

“We weren’t good enough, we didn’t get enough points,” Harbaugh said. “That was…sustaining the drives was…just left our defense on the field too much, in terms of time of possession.  It just wasn’t our night.” 

Herbert and the rest of the Chargers have nothing left. Their season is over. Like the rest of the world, they’ll be watching the Super Bowl instead of playing in it. That includes Herbert, who was supposed to have taken his game to another level this season.

“We all challenged him to take the next step and be a willful quarterback like (Patrick) Mahomes and (Tom) Brady and he’s done it all year long,” Football in America commentator Jason Garrett said. “He lost both of his tackles but he’s gotten this team to this place. He’s put the city of Los Angeles on his shoulders.”

The best thing you can say about the Chargers and their quick playoff run is that they at least made the postseason. However, for the second year in a row, the Chargers were knocked out of the postseason after a one game try. 

Last season, it was the Houston Texans that made the Chargers one-and-done wonders in the playoffs. This time around, the Patriots were that team to hand Harbaugh and his team another first round exit. 

It’s unfortunate because Harbaugh had led the Chargers down the pathway of a strong showing in the regular season with the team recording a 11-6 record and finishing second in the AFC West Division behind the No.1 seed Denver Broncos. 

One again, the Chargers are going to have to have some serious discussions about the near and distant future. First, let’s start with the quarterback position. 

Herbert, in his six seasons in and still has not won a playoff game. Herbert has played incredulous all season long, and looked like a man on a mission in pursuing that elusive first postseason victory. 

“This year, when the play breaks down he’s gone to another level in scrambling and still making something happen without pass protection, whether it’s running or buying time to make the big-time throw,” former NFL quarterback and current Football in America commentator Chris Simms said. 

Well, Herbert didn’t have a whole lot of luck breaking down plays with one of his patented runs. That’s because the Patriots were all over the field. New England put Herbert on his backside with six sacks and they bottled up the Chargers’ signal-caller to only 159 passing yards. 

“What our defense was able to do early in that game, in the red zone, inside the five yard line or inside the nine yard line, I think really set the tone for them for the rest of the game,” New England head coach Mike Vrabel said after the game. 

Cover Photo: FOXBOROUGH, MA – JANUARY 11: Drake Maye #10 of the New England Patriots breaks into the secondary during an AFC Wildcard game between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Chargers on January 11, 2025, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)