Justin Herbert Is Probably More Clutch Than Your NFL Team’s Quarterback

Scott Kacsmar05/07/2024 - 09:38 am

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Chargers have one of the best young quarterbacks in the NFL in Justin Herbert. However, you might not believe that depending on which media circles you draw from as some keep pointing to his lack of “clutch” ability and wins:

Dan Patrick said on his radio show last season that “[Herbert] doesn’t have clutch wins. He’s not a big-time quarterback. Fourth quarter stats are really, really troubling.”
Former NFL linebacker and current FS1 analyst Emmanuel Acho made waves in 2022 when he dubbed Herbert a “social media quarterback” where his supporters won’t show any of the quarterback’s mistakes on social platforms.
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently wrote that Herbert is the league’s most overrated quarterback going into the 2024 season, citing his large contract ($262.5 million) and lack of playoff success through four seasons.
During an appearance on Kay Adams’ show last month, former Chargers defensive back Chris Harris said “He’s missing that clutch factor” which he defined as fourth-quarter dominance like he used to see from Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, and Ben Roethlisberger. “When I played against those guys, if the game was a touchdown or three points, I was nervous,” Harris added.

There are other sources that have given Herbert more credit. Pro Football Focus ranked him as the No. 5 quarterback in the NFL right now, and Chris Simms of NBC Sports was fair in placing Herbert at No. 6 right behind Matthew Stafford going into the 2024 season. That’s fair.

Maybe we are giving too much gas to Acho seeing as how he said in August 2022 that “Justin Herbert dialogue frustrates me more than any dialogue in the history of [the] NFL,” suggesting he has a years-long axe to grind here.

But the recent comments from Harris, a teammate of Herbert’s in 2020-21, resonate more because of what he also said that day. Harris noted that the addition of head coach Jim Harbaugh, who has won everywhere he’s been, could “bring out the clutch factor” in Herbert. “It used to be all on Justin and he probably felt the burden of that every week,” Harris said. “Having that protection up front. Having a run game. Having a solid defense … Those are the little factors that I think will help him get to that next level.”

All of that is agreeable in how it will help Herbert enjoy more success under Harbaugh. But should an individual player’s clutch factor be determined by the clutch ability of his supporting cast? If you truly believe there is a clutch gene inside every player, shouldn’t you be able to see it and judge the player on it?

If Herbert was 100% efficient at setting up his kicker for a game-deciding field goal, and the kicker missed every single kick, surely your conclusion wouldn’t be that Herbert isn’t clutch, right? Your conclusion should be that Herbert has been clutch and the kicker is the ~~antichrist~~ anti-clutch player holding the team back.

The fact is Herbert is probably more clutch than your NFL team’s current quarterback unless your team is the Chiefs and the quarterback is Patrick Mahomes. But Mahomes plays a huge role in the uniqueness of Herbert’s situation, which is starting to mirror what Tony Romo experienced in Dallas in the late 2000s as a talented quarterback who was slandered for anti-clutch moments in nationally-televised games and ignored for his other successes.

Let’s sort this out with some data and contextualizing Herbert’s place in the current NFL quarterback landscape.

Justin Herbert Starts Each NFL Season Behind the 8-Ball Thanks to Kansas City

One might say division rivalries drive the NFL, but the truth is great quarterbacks often dictate division reigns. In Herbert’s case, he joined the Chargers in the AFC West during what has been a historic run by Andy Reid’s Chiefs, who have won the division in eight straight seasons since 2016, including the last six years with one of the best quarterbacks in history in Patrick Mahomes.

Herbert got an instant taste of the Chiefs’ success as his first NFL start in 2020 was against the Chiefs. Despite leading his offense to 479 yards and a couple of fourth-quarter leads, the Chargers lost 23-20 in overtime. It was a sign of things to come.

Kansas City has been favored to win the division each year of Herbert’s career, and that is no different in 2024 when the Chiefs will look for a ninth-straight AFC West title. The only longer streak in NFL history of division titles is 11 by the 2009-19 Patriots in the AFC East, so only a few quarterbacks know what it’s like to go up against a dynasty with a legendary quarterback.

But part of Tom Brady’s historic advantage in his division was the inability of the Jets, Dolphins, and Bills to find a competent franchise quarterback for most of the 21st century to challenge Brady.

Spreading Out Quarterback Greatness Among the NFL’s Divisions

If you look at the NFL since the 1970 merger, great quarterbacks have often been distributed almost evenly among the league’s divisions. It would be rare to ever see an instance where the top two quarterbacks were in the same division at the same time for even a year, let alone multiple seasons.

Look at this path of quarterback dominance in the AFC divisions since 1970:

AFC East: Johnny Unitas (1970 Colts), Bob Griese (1971-74 Dolphins), Bert Jones (1975-77 Colts), Dan Marino (1983-87 Dolphins), Jim Kelly (1988-93 Bills), Peyton Manning (1999-2000 Colts), Tom Brady (2001-19 Patriots), Josh Allen (2020-present Bills).
AFC Central/North: Terry Bradshaw (1972-79 Steelers), Ken Anderson (1981-82 Bengals), Boomer Esiason (1986-88 Bengals), Warren Moon (1989-93 Oilers), Steve McNair (1995-01 Oilers/Titans), Ben Roethlisberger (2004-18 Steelers), and Lamar Jackson (2019-present Ravens).
AFC South: Peyton Manning (2002-10 Colts), Andrew Luck (2012-18 Colts), Ryan Tannehill (2019-21 Titans), and C.J. Stroud (2023-present Texans) may be the latest top dog.
AFC West: Ken Stabler (1972-77 Raiders), Dan Fouts (1978-82 Chargers), John Elway (1983-98 Broncos), Drew Brees/Philip Rivers (2004-10 Chargers), Peyton Manning (2012-15 Broncos), and Patrick Mahomes (2017-present Chiefs).

If we did the same thing for the NFC, we’d find a lot of similar reigns that were rarely challenged for the likes of Joe Montana, Steve Young, Roger Staubach, Fran Tarkenton, Joe Theismann, Donovan McNabb, Kurt Warner, Brett Favre, and Aaron Rodgers.

There is little overlap of greatness, and in a couple of cases, you could say the NFL got lucky things broke the way they did to spread the wealth around the league.

In the famed 1983 quarterback class, the three best quarterbacks were drafted by AFC East teams: John Elway (Colts), Jim Kelly (Bills), and Dan Marino (Dolphins). This was back when the AFC had three divisions and the AFC East was bloated with five teams.

However, Elway was instantly traded to the Broncos where he could carry the AFC West. Marino had his deepest playoff runs right away in 1983-85, a 3-year period where Kelly was still in the USFL and had yet to make his NFL debut. Despite being drafted to the same division in 1983 and Kelly not retiring until after 1996, Marino and Kelly only made the playoffs in the same season three times in the next 14 seasons. In all three seasons (1990, 1992, and 1995), Kelly’s Bills eliminated Marino’s Dolphins in the playoffs. You’ll end up limiting each other’s success if stuffed into the same division.

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady both started their careers in the AFC East, but thanks to realignment in 2002, Manning’s Colts were sent to the new AFC South while the Patriots remained in the AFC East. Imagine the impact that would have had on their careers if they were sharing the same division every year and playing each other at least twice. That would make it harder on both to string together 12-win seasons and claim all those No. 1 seeds and MVP awards.

The AFC South recently looked like it was going to have two of the best challengers to Mahomes, but things went south in a hurry for Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson. Luck shocked everyone by retiring before the 2019 season, and Watson burned his own bridge in Houston.

You could argue the current AFC North with Lamar Jackson (Ravens) and Joe Burrow (Bengals) might be one of the best cases ever of challengers to the top quarterback in the league coming from the same division. A lot of people have Josh Allen ranked as the No. 2 quarterback behind Mahomes, but most would have Jackson and Burrow in the top four. Their health has also largely dictated that AFC North battle. When Jackson was injured in December in back-to-back seasons in 2021 and 2022, Cincinnati rallied to win the AFC North both years. Last year, Burrow was injured, and Jackson stayed healthy to win his second MVP and claim another No. 1 seed.

But neither of those quarterbacks is Mahomes, and neither is coached by Reid on the Chiefs, the team Herbert has to deal with.

If Herbert goes 9-8 like he did in 2021, that’s not going to win him a division title like it did for Trevor Lawrence (2022 Jaguars) and Baker Mayfield (2023 Buccaneers) in weak South divisions, or a wild card berth like it did for Jalen Hurts (2021 Eagles), Geno Smith (2022 Seahawks), and Jordan Love (2023 Packers) in a less competitive NFC.
When Herbert finished 10-7 in 2022, that was only good enough for a wild card berth and not a division title like it was for Burrow (2021 Bengals) and Stroud (2023 Texans), who got to open their playoff runs at home.

If the best quarterback in the NFL is in your division, your chances of becoming recognized as the second-best quarterback are dramatically cut down. Herbert would not only need to get better, but he needs Mahomes to fall off some instead of having a minimum floor of 11 wins and overtime in the AFC Championship Game for the last six years.

Criticizing Herbert for not stopping the Kansas City dynasty would be like blaming Matt Schaub for not unseating Peyton Manning’s Colts in the 2007-10 AFC South. It’s no coincidence the Texans made the playoffs for the first time ever in 2011, the first season where Manning missed games due to injury.

But Herbert has the toughest path to a division title among his peers, and the disparity in quarterback talent among the conferences also makes his path to the playoffs as a wild card among the hardest in the league.

None of this should be ignored in assessing Herbert’s level of success so far, especially compared to his peers.

It Always Seems to Be About the Playoffs

It seems the real crux of the argument for Herbert not being clutch is that we haven’t seen him in more playoff games. His only postseason appearance was a wild card game in Jacksonville in the 2022 season where he played okay, but his team blew a 27-0 lead and lost 31-30 on a field goal with no time left. That’s not good for four years in the league.

It is more than fair to say that Mahomes, Allen, and Jackson should be ranked ahead of Herbert among active quarterbacks. They have been at it a bit longer than Herbert and they are more accomplished.

But where things get interesting (and annoying) is how to compare Herbert to his 2020 draft classmates Joe Burrow (Bengals), Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins), and Jalen Hurts (Eagles). Jordan Love (Packers) also was selected in the first round of that draft, which could end up producing five franchise quarterbacks, a historic feat. But we are going to ignore Love, who did win a playoff game this past season, the rest of the way as he only has one season as a starter in Green Bay. He looks very promising too.

Herbert was the No. 6 pick in the 2020 draft behind Burrow (No. 1) and Tagovailoa (No. 5), but he was the fastest starter in the group, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year. Herbert is the only quarterback in NFL history to throw 30 touchdowns in each of his first two seasons. But that number dropped to 25 in 2022, and then 20 in an injury-shortened 2023 season that saw his second coach in Los Angeles (Brandon Staley) get fired.

But comparing Herbert to his 2020 peers sees him come up the shortest in the playoff department.

Burrow has been to a Super Bowl and was in another tight AFC Championship Game in Kansas City in the final minute in 2022, his only two healthy seasons in the NFL.
Hurts had the Eagles in Super Bowl 57 where they came up short against the Chiefs, and he has started in the last three postseasons.
Tagovailoa has led the Dolphins to the playoffs in back-to-back years, though he was injured at the end of 2022, and he played poorly in frigid Kansas City last year.

It is probably worth pointing out that this trio as well as Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen are a combined 1-7 against Kansas City in the playoffs. In fact, Mahomes is 15-1 against quarterbacks not named Tom Brady in the playoffs.

It sure would have been fun to see Herbert and the Chargers, who play the Chiefs tougher than most, go to Arrowhead for the 2022 AFC divisional round had they not blown that 27-0 lead in Jacksonville. That might have happened had a kicker just made a 40-yard field goal to put the Chargers up 13 points with 8:47 to play, but let’s not digress anymore.

Justin Herbert Has Been Clutch. His Teammates? Not So Much

Without getting trapped by the playoff discourse any deeper, the other arguments against Herbert in the clutch have been about his fourth quarters. But we have data for such things, and this is where the case against Herbert falls apart:

Justin Herbert: 14 game-winning drives and 11 fourth-quarter comebacks
Jalen Hurts: 9 game-winning drives and 7 fourth-quarter comebacks
Joe Burrow: 9 game-winning drives and 5 fourth-quarter comebacks
Tua Tagovailoa: 8 game-winning drives and 6 fourth-quarter comebacks

For supposedly not being clutch, Herbert has the third-most comeback wins and game-winning drives among all quarterbacks since 2020, and he’s leading his draft class in both categories.

But if you’ve followed the Chargers in the 21st century, then you know they are contractually obligated to uphold the Chargering brand by playing in a one-score game in the fourth quarter every week.

We should instead look at their opportunity records for comebacks (4QC) and game-winning drives (GWD), which are all the games where they had the ball in the fourth quarter or overtime and were tied or (for 4QC) trailed by 1-to-8 points. We also noted the total number of drives involved in these games, how often the quarterback produced a score, the average points per drive scored, and what the average deficit was for the drives:

Player	4QC Rec.	4QC/GWD Rec.	Drives	Scores	Score%	Pts/Dr	Avg. Deficit
Justin Herbert	11-21 (.344)	14-23 (.378)	88	38	43.2%	2.35	3.23
Jalen Hurts	7-9 (.438)	9-9 (.500)	37	17	45.9%	2.70	3.54
Joe Burrow	5-14 (.263)	9-14-1 (.396)	57	24	42.1%	2.18	2.51
Tua Tagovailoa	6-9 (.400)	8-10 (.444)	33	16	48.5%	2.91	3.33

Note: Tagovailoa also has a “no decision” in a win against the 2020 Raiders where he was benched after a 3-and-out drive for Ryan Fitzpatrick, who led a 4QC/GWD for Miami. You can find these records for all active starters here.

We see that Herbert has the lowest winning percentage in all GWD opportunities, but he also has more opportunities and scores than Hurts and Tagovailoa combined. Told you the Chargers are pros at playing games this way.

We can also see that Burrow has the worst record when trailing by one score at just 5-14, his average deficit was the smallest at 2.51 points, and he averaged the fewest points per drive. Despite his clutch reputation, Burrow has won one game in the NFL when trailing in the final 8:00. It was against the 2022 Saints on a game-winning touchdown that was mostly Ja’Marr Chase after the catch.

JA'MARR CHASE, MEUS AMIGOS!!!!! 🤯🔥🔥🔥 #RuleTheJungle #Saints pic.twitter.com/joFdHlh2DX

— Endzone Brasil (@Endzone_Brasil) October 16, 2022

In fact, if you took each quarterback’s GWDs and looked at the average time on the clock at the start and end of the drive, Herbert’s have by far come the latest in the game when there is more pressure to not screw up:

Justin Herbert: 14 GWDs, average start of 4:47, average end of 2:44
Jalen Hurts: 9 GWDs, average start of 8:21, average end of 4:49
Joe Burrow: 9 GWDs, average start of 8:38, average end of 5:06
Tua Tagovailoa: 8 GWDs, average start of 9:14, average end of 5:17

A big reason why Herbert’s GWDs are so much later in the game is because if he takes the lead earlier, the Chargers are not as good at making it hold up for a win. Herbert has 7 games with go-ahead drives in the fourth quarter and overtime that still resulted in a loss, or as many as Burrow (3), Tua (3), and Hurts (1) combined.

It’s like the Chargers really drafted another Drew Brees in 2020 with Herbert.

Last season alone, Herbert had three lost comebacks, which were games where he brought the Chargers back late from a deficit to a lead, but the team still lost against Miami, Tennessee, and Green Bay. For his career, Herbert has four lost comebacks, which leads Tua (3), Burrow (2), and Hurts (0).

For each quarterback, we can find losses where they did their job but another part of the team like a kicker or defense failed to hold up their end of the bargain. That’s why for our final adjusted 4QC/GWD record, we are going to account for the following scenarios:

If the quarterback led a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter or overtime and the team still lost the game, we’re changing it to a win.
If the quarterback tied the game on his last possession and never got the ball back in a loss, we’re counting it as a no decision (tie in record).
If the quarterback set up his kicker for a field goal within 60 yards that was missed or blocked, we are counting it as a no decision on a game-tying kick and a win if the team trailed by 1-2 points or was tied. Kick must be in the final 2:00, overtime, or it needs to be the quarterback’s final possession of the game.

Under this set of rules, these are what the final adjusted 4QC/GWD records look like for these quarterbacks and how much they improved from their real records:

Justin Herbert: 21-13-3 (.608) [+.230]
Jalen Hurts: 10-7-1 (.583) [+.083]
Joe Burrow: 14-7-3 (.646) [+.250]
Tua Tagovailoa: 11-7-1 (.605) [+.161]

Herbert improved by 23 percentage points and now has a better record than Hurts and Tagovailoa. Keep in mind this still doesn’t change losses in 2020 where Austin Ekeler fumbled a perfect hook-and-ladder play design that should have led to a walk-off touchdown to beat the Panthers or when Donald Parham dropped a game-winning touchdown on the final play in the end zone against the Raiders that was overturned to incomplete.

Interestingly enough, Burrow gets the biggest boost with 25 percentage points, and a lot of it is due to kicks that were missed:

In his NFL debut against the Chargers in 2020, Burrow’s kicker Randy Bullock missed a 31-yard field goal that would have sent the game to overtime (no decision credit).
In overtime against the Packers in 2021, the Bengals got conservative, and Evan McPherson missed a 49-yard field goal that would have ended the game before Green Bay won on a kick. To be fair, the game should have ended in overtime after Burrow’s interception, but Mason Crosby missed a 40-yard field goal after also missing a 51-yard field goal at the end of regulation.
In the 2022 opener against Pittsburgh, McPherson had a blocked extra point at the end of regulation that would have won the game, then a missed 29-yard field goal in overtime on a rough day for the special teams after Cincinnati’s longsnapper was injured as the Bengals lost 23-20. That’s what messed up McPherson, a very good kicker.

All things considered, if Herbert is not clutch, then what evidence do we exactly have that Burrow, Hurts, and Tagovailoa are? Herbert seems to stack up just fine to his peers.

Does Justin Herbert Lack Quality Clutch Wins?

Maybe it’s the caliber of teams they have done their heroics against that is shifting the perceptions. Like how Burrow gets credit for beating the Chiefs in close games. Hurts had some big comeback wins last year against teams like the Bills and Chiefs in games many people watched. Tagovailoa led that wild 21-point comeback in the fourth quarter in Baltimore early in the 2022 season.

With that in mind, here is each quarterback’s record at 4QC/GWD opportunities against teams that made the playoffs that year:

Justin Herbert is 3-17 (.150)
Jalen Hurts is 2-2 (.500)
Joe Burrow is 5-9 (.357)
Tua Tagovailoa is 3-6 (.333)

Did we just solve the disconnect? Herbert’s 3-17 record sticks out like a sore thumb here. This looks like the Tony Romo effect where a lot of his big interceptions and bad moments happen in prime time with the most eyes watching. Sure enough, Herbert has thrown late interceptions in losses in prime-time against teams like the 2022 Chiefs (twice), 2022 49ers, and the 2023 Cowboys.

On the flip side, this means Herbert is 11-6 (.647) at 4QC/GWD opportunities against non-playoff teams, which is very solid. But it’s not like his peers have a lot of quality wins in these situations, and when you start breaking down the games, they quickly lose a lot of luster for what the quarterback actually did.

Am I supposed to be moved that both of Burrow’s game-winning drives in the 2021 playoffs were field goal drives that started at midfield after his defense intercepted Tannehill and Mahomes? On those two game-winning drives in road playoff games, Burrow’s combined passing stat line was 3-of-3 for 36 yards. That’s it. Keep in mind he ended three other drives in crunch time in those games by getting sacked on third down twice, including getting knocked out of field goal range in Tennessee, and he threw an interception in Kansas City.

Herbert can’t even get Cameron Dicker (“Dicker the Kicker”) to make a 40-yard field goal in the playoffs in Jacksonville for him, and we are supposed to celebrate Burrow setting up field goals of 52 yards in these games? The same Burrow who couldn’t even get into field goal range in Super Bowl 56 and the 2022 AFC Championship Game? Something doesn’t add up here.

The real kicker here is that Herbert has played quite well against the Chiefs, including three losses where he led a go-ahead drive only to see the defense fail to stop Mahomes. Remember the 2021 game late in the season? Herbert threw a go-ahead touchdown pass with 2:19 left, Mahomes tied it, then the Chiefs won the coin toss in overtime and Herbert never saw the ball again.

Herbert would have loved it if Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropped a game-winning touchdown like he did against the Eagles last year on Monday Night Football to help Hurts get a win in a game where he played poorly.

Hurts’ other comeback win against a playoff team was against Buffalo last year, a wild game where kicker Jake Elliott forced overtime with a 59-yard field goal in the rain, which we ranked as the fifth-greatest kick in NFL history. That’s not the kind of help you ever expect to see from a kicker for the Chargers. Keep in mind, Hurts has never won a playoff game if the Eagles allowed more than 7 points (0-3).

If you followed the games closely the last four years, you should probably conclude that Herbert can be quite clutch, including games against playoff teams like last year against Detroit when he led five straight touchdown drives before the Lions won on a last-second field goal. What more could he have done in a 41-38 loss?

If Herbert can’t be clutch until you see his defense create more game-winning stops and his kicker make more game-winning kicks, then you have to admit you are looking at this all wrong.

Will Justin Herbert’s Teammates Finally Deliver in 2024?

Getting back to what Chris Harris said a month ago, imagine if 2024 is finally the year the Chargers put a real team around Herbert, who ranks No. 1 in NFL history in averaging 39.1 pass attempts per game.

You ease the burden with a real coach in Jim Harbaugh, an offensive coordinator in Greg Roman who knows how to run the ball, a top left tackle prospect in Joe Alt, and an exciting rookie wide receiver in Ladd McConkey from Georgia.

Sure, the Chargers shipped away over 57% of Herbert’s career passing yardage this offseason by getting rid of Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Austin Ekeler, and Gerald Everett. But if you believe in his ability to throw the ball, he can make new weapons. That’s why you pay a quarterback the big bucks and sign a coach like Harbaugh, who has won everywhere he’s been, including in the NFL where he instantly helped Alex Smith to a career season for the 2011 49ers.

Harbaugh hasn’t had a passer he could put the game on like this since he coached Andrew Luck at Stanford. Oddly enough, Luck was supported by a strong play-action attack and running game at Stanford under Harbaugh. But Luck is No. 2 all time with 38.3 pass attempts per game, another case of a quarterback who was heavily relied on to carry flawed teams in the NFL.

While Herbert had the fast start among the 2020 class, he has not taken things to that next level like they have, and the big reason for that is the Chargers’ failure to significantly improve the team around him the last three years like those teams did for their quarterback:

Burrow got his college receiver Ja’Marr Chase in 2021, an elite prospect and playmaker, and his defense has been excellent in big moments, including multiple games against Kansas City where they stopped Mahomes in the clutch.
Hurts got wide receiver A.J. Brown in a steal of a trade in 2022, pairing him with the speedy DeVonta Smith, and they had an elite offensive line with a cheat code play (“Tush Push”), not to mention a defense that piled up 70 sacks during the 2022 Super Bowl season.
Tagovailoa had a Kyle Shanahan disciple to come coach him in Mike McDaniel, who gets to toy with arguably the fastest offense in NFL history with Tyreek Hill, Jaylen Waddle, Raheem Mostert, and De’Von Achane.

Meanwhile, the Chargers have stuck Herbert with often-injured possession receivers, a great receiving back who rarely ran the ball in Ekeler, and they may have drafted the worst wide receiver they could find in the first round last year (Quentin Johnston) when Jordan Addison (Vikings) and Zay Flowers (Ravens) were available.

Herbert has also yet to play with a defense that has ranked higher than No. 20 in points per drive allowed. Throw in your usual rash of injuries to the few quality defenders on the roster, and Herbert has had easily the worst defensive support of any quarterback you can even suggest for the top tier right now in the NFL.

Even C.J. Stroud had a defense that ranked No. 13 in points per drive last year, and Houston has already made the big move to add Stefon Diggs to his deep arsenal this season as he has higher MVP odds than Herbert. If Stroud delivers this year, that will likely be another quarterback ranked ahead of Herbert. Ditto for Love in the NFC if Green Bay has a strong season.

Maybe that’s deserved too if Herbert does not excel under Harbaugh on a team that will hopefully have more balance with the running game, the best defense Herbert’s ever had, and some exciting potential with the new receivers.

Time will tell on this 2020 draft class, which could go down as one of the best ever for quarterbacks. I just wish the narrative on Herbert and his peers carried more nuance than selective memories of clutch moments, and an acknowledgement that other quarterbacks have had a lot more help around them to this point.

You think it’s bad that the Ravens and Bills have been shut out of the Super Bowl because they can’t get past the Chiefs? Try sharing a division with them and being asked to dethrone them without a top 20 defense in your career.

Herbert can still be the Drew Brees of his generation. For the Chargers’ sake, let’s just hope he doesn’t pine for the coziness of the NFC South and ends up playing for New Orleans in 2025 to get away from Mahomes and the Chiefs.

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