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COSTA MESA, Calif. – Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert underwent surgery Tuesday on his broken right thumb. The practice was “successful,” according to coach Brandon Staley. Herbert was placed on injured reserve for the first time in his NFL career. He will miss the final four games of this season.
“He’s on the road to recovery,” Staley said.
The Chargers are now in a place they’ve tried so hard to avoid since their move: irrelevancy.
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Justin Herbert of the Chargers is out for the rest of the season
This is new territory for Staley as a head coach. For better or worse, his Chargers were never the last. They contended for the postseason until the last game of the season in 2021. They made the playoffs in 2022. Sure, the Chargers received a lot of criticism, from Staley’s decision-making, to fame in Jacksonville, to Herbert’s hand. gene. But the noise was still there. People were worried. The games mattered – 48 straight games under Staley as the Chargers pulled off one of the most exciting games in football.
That streak will end Thursday night when Easton Stick makes his first career start in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
And what will determine the rest of this season is the lack of attention. Disappointment. Underestimated. From the Chargers and the league at large.
Of course, there is more to this fact than Herbert’s injury. The Chargers are a bad football team. There are 5-8 of them. They are 12th in the AFC. Only four teams in the NFL are worse than the Chargers. They went 5-7 in their first 12 games as Herbert played all the snaps. They were heading here. Because their pass defense is bad. And they couldn’t run the ball. And they couldn’t perform it in the two-minute training session.
With Herbert on the field in Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos, the Chargers offense managed just 90 yards on 31 plays.
It doesn’t matter because Herbert lives abroad. It is not important because it cannot be produced. They failed to finish. They have not won.
Herbert’s injury hastened the inevitable.
It should be very painful for the Chargers to look at the AFC standings this week. The Kansas City Chiefs, for the first time in a long time, can catch up. They have won seven straight in the AFC West. Heading into Week 15, the Broncos – a team that started 1-5 and gave up 70 points in one game – are just one game away. the Chiefs 7-6.
The Chargers have been waiting for this opportunity, for the Chiefs to come back to earth. And they can’t stay in the mix long enough to give themselves a chance.
Five other AFC teams are 7-6, along with the Broncos. In a wide open conference, the Chargers are one of only five teams not in the playoff picture.
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Across town, the Los Angeles Rams have surpassed expectations at 6-7, fighting for an NFC playoff spot.
“Each one of us has to answer for this whole season,” said Sebastian Joseph-Day, the defensive guard this week.
The timing of Herbert’s injury was a particularly bad one for Staley and general manager Tom Telesco.
Their last hope to repeat this season is a five-game winning streak to close out the year. But, they lost Herbert in the second quarter against the Broncos. The Chargers were down 10-0 at the half. Will they be back if Herbert doesn’t break his finger while completing a pass to tight end Donald Parham Jr.? I guess. Probably not.
Of course if Herbert went down early in the season, Staley and Telesco would have a valid excuse for this disaster of a season. Instead, Herbert’s injury came long after the Chargers showed their true colors. The shortcomings of Staley as a coach and Telesco as a roster builder have already been identified.
“That’s a big problem you can face,” Staley said Tuesday, “when you lose your starting quarterback.”
It’s a valid point. However, the idea of a disaster reveals a kind of greener grass on the other side. It is a blessing to experience and enjoy when that problem is overcome.
What lies on the other side of this crisis is even more tragic.
The barren, depressing landscape of an era of destruction.
Improper.
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(Top photo: Ryan Sun / Associated Press)
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