Who has got it better than them? Nobody!
The Los Angeles Chargers have punched their ticket and are going to the playoffs. It likely will not be the last time for the Jim Harbaugh-Justin Herbert combination.
Harbaugh returned to the NFL after leading his alma matta, the University of Michigan, where he was a coach for nine years, to a national title over the University of Washington and took a historically underachieving Chargers franchise right to the playoffs in his inaugural season. And the Chargers resembled a well-oiled machine and every bit of a playoff team on Saturday.
“You talk to them and there’s more to do,” Harbaugh said. “There’s no coach who could have it better than to be coaching these players. Nobody. Maybe the only person would be future us, could have it better than us.”
The Chargers destroyed the New England Patriots 40-7, locking up a wild-card spot. The Chargers improved to 10-6 on the season. They still have an outside chance at the No. 5 seed, which is where they want to be because that team will play the injury-riddled Houston Texans, who will by far be the weakest of the AFC’s division winners and are locked into the No. 4 seed with their 31-2 loss against the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Day.
“We had a good opportunity tonight and we went out and took it,” Herbert said. “We had a good plan. All week we knew how big of a game this was for us. Guys were dialed in, focused and we executed today.”
The Chargers were cooking with grease and did everything pitcture-perfect on Saturday. With J.K. Dobbins back from IR, they ran the ball down the Patriots throats. Quarterback Justin Herbert balled out of his mind and had perhaps his best game of the season with three touchdown passes and 281 yards. The defense swarmed Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye like a bunch of killer bees and New England could never get any traction on the offensive side of the ball. With the game already decided, the Chargers made the smart move and pulled Herbert with just under 11 minutes to go, because the game was already on ice.
“We just didn’t play well enough in any phase of the game,” coach Jerod Mayo said. “No complementary football, and that’s what you get.”
Asked the tough question if he thinks he is coaching for his job, Mayo said it comes with the territory.
“I’m always under pressure and it’s been that way for a very long time, not just when I became the head coach of the Patriots,” he said.
Some teams sneak into the backdoor of the playoffs by getting some help, or grinding out a closer-than-expected win. The Chargers wanted to leave no doubt and no stone unturned about their postseason credentials and resume. All AFC playoff teams watching the Chargers on Saturday know in the back of their minds they would not be getting an easy out if they draw Los Angeles.
Embed from Getty ImagesPrevious iterations of the Chargers would have a difficult time in a 10:00 a.m. early Saturday start on the East Coast. Dating back to the last several decades, there has always been something holding back the Chargers that you cannot put your finger on from reaching their potential.
Whatever was missing in the recipe, Harbaugh fixed it immediately.
The Chargers manhandled the Patriots 249-91 in the first half, and 36 of the Patriots’ yards came on their only highlight of the day. The Chargers were offsides so Drake Maye took advantage of the free play and lofted a long pass to Demario Douglas, who made a nice adjustment to catch it for the score. That pass came after Maye took a huge hit on New England’s opening drive, went to the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion and returned to the game after he was cleared.
That is about the only positive for the Patriots. The Chargers controlled time of possession and had the ball for 23:20 of the first half, which reflected the inability of New England’s defense to get off the field and also of its offense not being able to sustain any drives. The second half of this blowout was even more dominant for the road team who had nine days to prepare for this matchup.
The Patriots are one of the worst teams in the NFL, as their 3-13 record clearly shows. But one of the signs of an elite team is not having any slippage against poor teams, and the Chargers did that.
The combination of Herbert and Harbaugh are the type of pairing that can perhaps keep Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and the Kansas City Chiefs up at night in the AFC West over the upcoming seasons.
Herbert had exciting highlights and impressive statistics before Harbaugh arrived under Brandon Staley and Anthony Lynn, but he was not great late in games and the Chargers were not winning much. Harbaugh did not place more responsibility on the plate of his talented quarterback, which seemed kind of backwards at the time, but he had the key to unlocked a much more efficient signal caller.
Herbert was superb against New England. He had his first three-touchdown game of the season. Two of the touchdowns passes went to exciting rookie receiver Ladd McConkey, who was a second-round draft pick out of Georgia. The Chargers offense was humming and the defense was suffocating and allowed very little to the Patriots. It was a complete team win.
In many ways, the Chargers have the look of a well-coached team. They should be even better in 2025, with the front office having more cap flexibility to add players that fit Harbaugh’s system, which is a physical brand of ball. This does not feel like a one-hit wonder playoff appearance for the Chargers. They are the real deal, and they are in line to get a lot better as the Harbaugh era moves on.
The Chargers visit Brock Browers and the Las Vegas Raiders in their regular-season finale.
The Patriots host James Cook and the Buffalo Bills next Sunday in their season finale.
