The Los Angeles Chargers' first season under Jim Harbaugh was a resounding success. There were lingering questions about how the Michigan man might readjust to life in the NFL, but Harbaugh took an aimless team and delivered it straight into the postseason. He remains one of the very best in the biz.
After 11 regular season wins, however, L.A. was snuffed out quickly in the postseason. Houston put the clamps on the Chargers' offense, forcing Justin Herbert into arguably the single worst performance of his career.
The 27-year-old quarterback threw one touchdown and four interceptions in the loss — after he threw three interceptions total across 17 regular-season starts. It was a real low point for one of the NFL's most talented signal-callers, and unfortunately, postseason meltdowns are becoming something of a theme in Herbert's career.
He has only been to the playoffs twice, but each game ended in disappointment. The Chargers took a 27-7 lead into halftime against Jacksonville in the 2023 Wild Card Round, only to collapse in epic fashion in a 31-30 loss. That was more on the defense than on Herbert, but he disappeared down the stretch of his first playoff game. The second time around in 2024, Herbert never really showed up.
That's why we need to pump the breaks on Harbaugh's latest comments.
Jim Harbaugh believes Chargers just put Justin Herbert on the Hall of Fame path with NFL Draft picks
Los Angeles selected North Carolina running back Omarion Hampton in the first round of last week's NFL Draft, then targeted Ole Miss wideout Tre Harris in the second round. Both picks are clearly geared toward maximizing the supporting cast around Herbert. In fact, Harbaugh has the grandest of ambitions for Herbert in this Chargers offense.
"I just woke up the other day and said, 'I got to get Justin Herbert to the Hall of Fame,'" Herbert told Rich Eisen (h/t NBC Sports). "Must get Justin Herbert to the Hall of Fame. That would mean winning a couple Super Bowls. A lot of people would benefit. So that’s a worthy goal. And I think it’s necessary that we get him surrounded by as many different football players at his level as possible."
This is an admirable goal — in fact, it should be the goal of every coach and quarterback — but it rings a bit hollow given Herbert's postseason track record to date. Not a soul will question Herbert's raw talent, but can he show the necessary poise under pressure? Can he rise to the moment in the playoffs? So far, the answer has been no. As for the future, only time will tell.
It's hard to overstate how impressive last season was for Herbert and the Chargers on the whole. To win 11 games with that roster, in the aftermath of the Brandon Staley disaster, is no small feat. His favorite target was a second-round rookie in Ladd McConkey. Harbaugh's offenses are always extremely balanced. Herbert has one of the best live arms in football, but he bought wholly into Los Angeles' measured, wealth-spreading approach. Three interceptions in 17 starts is a testament to Herbert's processing speed and general composure, even if it meant he wasn't always engineering the most explosive play.
That processing speed and composure was all out the window come the postseason, however, and we shan't get caught up in overrating the value of a first-round running back. Of course Hampton will produce in the Greg Roman scheme, but that is bad value in almost all cases. Harris figures to emerge as a nice WR2 next to McConkey, but to call L.A.'s roster Super Bowl worthy as it stands is ... premature.