Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert will not play in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Broncos.
The Chargers have already clinched a wild card, and head coach Jim Harbaugh said today that he’s keeping Herbert healthy for the playoffs. Herbert is playing with an injured left hand and has taken a beating this season.
Trey Lance will start at quarterback for the Chargers.
Harbaugh also indicated some other starters who are banged up will get this week off.
That’s good news for the Broncos, who only need to beat the Chargers on Sunday to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC. It’s also bad news for the Patriots, who can still earn the No. 1 seed, but only if they win on Sunday and the Broncos lose.
The Chargers will open the playoffs on the road in the wild card round, and Harbaugh wants Herbert to be healthy and well rested. If that means accepting that the Chargers are going to lose to the Broncos on Sunday, Harbaugh will take that.
Chargers Clips
A potentially exciting ending to Saturday’s Texans-Chargers contest evaporated in a flash, thanks to a ticky-tack illegal contact foul that extended Houston’s final drive, keeping L.A. from trying to mount a potential game-winning drive. NFL officiating spokesman Walt Anderson addressed the call on NFL Network’s Sunday morning four-hour pregame show, in his usual two-minute chunk of real estate to talk about officiating decisions from the week that was.
“What a lot of people may not realize is illegal contact is a very unique foul to the National Football League,” Anderson said. “Illegal contact does not exist at any other level of football. And what that foul is, is receivers, once you go five yards, defensive players have got to let them freely run their route. You can chuck them once within five yards, but after five yards, you’ve gotta let them go. And so what happened on this play is when Christian Kirk got past five yards, then, number 29, Tarheeb Still, he slid over into his path. If you slide over into the path of the receiver, you chuck them, you ride them beyond that five yards, that is illegal contact, and that is what was called on the play.”
In isolation, that’s right. And Steve Mariucci followed up with the (frankly) irrelevant question of why the flag wasn’t dropped for illegal contact with a different receiver on the same play. Anderson explained the reason for a foul not being called on Chargers defensive back Donte Jackson (as Kurt Warner initially assumed when discussing the replay during the broadcast) for a collision with Texans receiver Xavier Hutchinson.
Here’s the reality. The officials typically don’t call illegal contact quite so tightly. So the better question is this: “Walt, why isn’t illegal contact called every time it happens?”
Despite the rule that revolutionized passing offenses in 1978 by preventing defensive backs from constantly jamming and hitting and disrupting pass routes before the ball is in the air (with the exception on “one chuck” within five years), some degree of technically illegal contact occurs all the time. It doesn’t get called all the time because, frankly, that would slow the game down to a crawl. (The Legion of Boom, among other successful teams, parlayed that reality into a Super Bowl win 12 years ago.)
That’s the real problem. By “letting them play” more often than not, with illegal contact called only sporadically or when blatant, it stands out (in a bad way) when the rule is strictly enforced — especially when a game is on the line.
This is another one of those “normal incidents of the game” that become tinfoil-hat fodder in a world of widespread legalized sports betting from which the NFL significantly profits.
Obviously, we don’t expect official NFL spokesman Walt Anderson to say that. But that’s the real problem with what happened on Saturday at SoFi Stadium. Illegal contact of the kind that was flagged in crunch time very often isn’t. So why was it called at that specific time?
Houston’s win over the Chargers got the Texans into the playoffs. And it leaves only one spot in the AFC unclaimed.
Six teams are now in: Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Texans, Chargers, and Bills.
That leaves one more seat at the table, for one of two teams. Either the Steelers or the Ravens will be the AFC North champions. Pittsburgh’s magic number is one; a Baltimore loss to the Packers tonight or a Steelers win over the Browns on Sunday seals the deal.
Plenty of seed remain TBD, including the AFC East and AFC South champions, along with the all-important No. 1 seed.
Still, six of seven AFC teams are set. Which is the same situation as the NFC, where the only remaining spot will go to eventual NFC South champs, Carolina or Tampa Bay.
The Texans are headed to the playoffs for the third straight season.
Saturday’s 20-16 win over the Chargers in Los Angeles sewed up a postseason berth for DeMeco Ryans’ squad and it closed the door on any hope the Colts had of salvaging a season that has gone off the rails after a 7-1 start. The Texans will face those Colts in Week 18 and the win means there will remain a possibility that they can leapfrog the Jaguars and win the AFC South regardless of what happens in Sunday’s game between their AFC South rivals.
The Chargers loss also means that the Broncos have clinched the AFC West title. It is the first time that a team other than the Chiefs has won that division since 2015.
The Texans got off to a hot start thanks to C.J. Stroud touchdown passes to rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel on their first two possessions, but they failed to put the game away despite a slew of Chargers mistakes. Kicker Cameron Dicker had a pair of them with a missed field goal at the end of the first half and a missed extra point after Omarion Hampton’s touchdown run brought Los Angeles within four points with 3:37 left to play in the game.
It looked like the Chargers would get one last chance to try to pull out the win when Odafe Oweh and Daiyan Henley sacked Stroud on a third down before the two minute warning, but cornerback Tarheeb Still was flagged for illegal contact and the Texans were able to run out the clock from there.
Stroud was 16-of-28 for 244 yards and threw two interceptions to go with the two early touchdowns. Running back Woody Marks added 19 carries for 71 yards, but the driver for the Texans all season has been the defense and it remained so on Saturday.
Justin Herbert was sacked five times and the Chargers failed to get into the end zone until they were down 17-3 at the end of the third quarter. Pass protection has been their Achilles heel all season and their playoff stay is unlikely to be a long one if they can’t find some way to shore it up before the wild card round arrives.
The Chargers spent most of the three quarters stumbling around the field, but the Texans couldn’t pull away and it is now a one-score game in Los Angeles.
Quarterback Justin Herbert found tight end Oronde Gadsden for a one-yard touchdown that cut Houston’s lead to 17-10 with 13 seconds left to play in the third quarter.
Herbert helped set up the score with a 28-yard scramble on a third down and picked up another first down when he stayed on his feet to deliver a pass to Quentin Johnston while being hit by Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins. Herbert, who has been sacked five times, is now 15-of-22 for 160 yards on the afternoon.
The Texans raced out to a 14-0 lead after their first two possessions, but the last eight have produced just three more and they will need to find a way to get things back into gear if they’re going to ensure themselves of a playoff berth by the end of business in Week 17.
The Chargers had a couple of chances to cut into the Texans’ lead before halftime in Los Angeles on Saturday, but they couldn’t make anything of them.
Cameron Dicker missed a 32-yard field goal wide right with 10 seconds to play in the half and the Texans remain up 14-3 with 30 minutes left to play as a result. Dicker’s field goal attempt came after the Chargers took over on the Houston 32-yard line thanks to C.J. Stroud’s second interception of the first half.
The miss was the first of Dicker’s career on a kick inside of 40 yards.
Stroud apparently didn’t see Chargers defensive back Elijah Molden standing between him and wide receiver Christian Kirk and the play gave the Chargers some life after they threw an interception of their own. A Justin Herbert toss to tight end Oronde Gadsden went off the rookie’s hands and into the waiting mitts of Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair on the Houston 1-yard line.
Stroud’s first interception came after Chargers defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage and safety Derwin James reeled it in for the takeaway. That led to the only Chargers points of the first half, but Dicker’s field goal didn’t do much to dent the lead that the Texans built with long touchdown passes on their first two possessions of the game.
Stroud opened the game 6-of-6 for 151 yards, but finished the half 10-of-18 for 185 yards. Herbert is 10-of-14 for 123 yards and he’s been sacked three times.
The Texans have doubled down on long touchdowns in the first quarter of Saturday’s game against the Chargers.
C.J. Stroud threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to rookie Jayden Higgins on the team’s first possession and he found Higgins’ fellow 2025 draft pick and Iowa State product Jaylin Noel on the second possession. This play only covered 43 yards, but the result was another touchdown and a 14-0 lead for Houston.
Stroud is now 4-of-4 for 142 yards.
The Chargers’ lone possession lasted three plays and ended with Texans defensive end Danielle Hunter planting quarterback Justin Herbert into the ground for a sack. Herbert, who recently had surgery to repair a fracture in his left hand, got some medical attention on the sideline after that hit and he may not be in the game long if the Texans keep scoring at will.
The Texans offense failed to impress in last Sunday’s win over the Raiders, but they’re off to an impressive start on Sunday.
Quarterback C.J. Stroud went deep on the third play of the game and he connected with rookie wide receiver Jayden Higgins for a 75-yard touchdown. Ka’imi Fairbairn’s extra point put the Texans up 7-0 over the Chargers with less than two minutes off the clock in Los Angeles.
It was the longest catch of the year for the second-round pick as well as his fifth receiving touchdown. It was also the longest touchdown pass of Stroud’s career.
The Texans will be in the AFC playoffs with a win and Stroud’s big throw put them on the right path for that result.
The Chargers will not have running back Kimani Vidal for Saturday’s home game against the Texans.
Vidal is inactive after being listed as questionable to play due to a neck injury. That will leave Hassan Haskins and Jaret Patterson as the options behind rookie Omarion Hampton in the backfield.
Right guard Mekhi Becton is good to go for the Chargers, however. He also drew a questionable tag, but his knee is well enough for him to play.
While Becton got the green light, Texans left tackle Aireontae Ersery was not so fortunate. He’s inactive due to a thumb injury, which means the Texans are down both their tackles because Trent Brown was ruled out on Thursday with ankle and knee injuries. Blake Fisher is set to start for Ersery while Tytus Howard will be at right tackle.
Left tackle Jamaree Salyer, wide receiver Derius Davis, safety RJ Mickens, and cornerback Benjamin St-Juste were ruled out for the Chargers during the week. Edge rusher Kyle Kennard and tight end Tyler Conklin are the other inactives.
Quarterback Graham Mertz, linebacker Jamal Hill, wide receiver Braxton Berrios, cornerback Alijah Huzzie, and defensive end Solomon Byrd are inactive for Houston.
If the betting odds are correct, the path to the Super Bowl in the AFC will go through Denver.
The Broncos are heavy -175 favorites to earn the AFC No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. The Broncos could clinch the No. 1 seed as soon as Sunday, if the Chargers, Patriots, Bills and Jaguars all lose. The Broncos would also clinch the No. 1 seed with a win in Week 18.
The next-best odds go to the Patriots, who are +190 to earn the No. 1 seed. New England needs to win its final two games and hope the Broncos lose to the Chargers in Week 18.
The Jaguars are longer shots at +1200 to earn the No. 1 seed. The Jaguars would get the No. 1 seed if they win their final two games and both the Patriots and Broncos lose a game.
The Chargers are significant long shots at +3000. They would need to win their final two games while the Patriots and Jaguars both lose a game.
The Bills are the longest shots on the board at +4500. Buffalo needs to win both of its final two games while the Jaguars, Patriots, Chargers and Broncos all lose at least one game.
