Justin Herbert would benefit from a strong finish to the Los Angeles Chargers’ 2020 season.
Because of how good rookie Justin Herbert has been for the Los Angeles Chargers in the 2020 NFL season, you might forget how wild the start to his career was. If not for a botched injection given to Tyrod Taylor by the team’s training staff prior to the Week 2 game against the Chiefs, Herbert wouldn’t have been thrust into the starting role.
Herbert hit the ground running, though, going 22-of-33 for 311 yards with one touchdown and one interception in his first NFL game with no week to prepare as the starter. And he hasn’t looked back overall either.
For the year, the rookie from Oregon has exceeded almost everyone’s expectations. He’s completed 66.3 percent of his passes for 3,467 yards with 25 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. There’s no question that he’s been balling out, even if the Chargers are just 4-9 on the season. However, the signs of the rookie wall have surfaced as of late.
In Week 12 against Buffalo, Herbert struggled a bit as he completed only 59.6 percent of his passes with one touchdown and one pick, though he did throw for 316 yards. Even worse, he followed that up with an abysmal performance against New England, going just 26-of-53 (49.1 percent) for 209 yards with no scores and two interceptions.
Herbert bounced back from an efficiency aspect in a win over the Falcons in Week 14 but still only threw for 243 yards with another interception, giving him four in his last three games.
Given what the young quarterback has shown this season, Herbert’s stock continues to rise. However, as the Chargers likely look to a head coaching change this offseason and aim to build around the quarterback, it’s hard not to think that he enters the final three games of his first NFL season with pressure to perform well.
The Los Angeles Chargers need an impressive stretch run from Justin Herbert.
On a larger scale, Justin Herbert’s season will be considered a success. He needs just three touchdowns over the final three weeks of the regular season to set the rookie record. Moreover, averaging 200 yards per game over that span would give him 4,000 yards passing for the year, which would be an incredible feat.
At the same time, Chargers fans and Herbert supporters don’t want the young signal-caller to limp to those accomplishments. For a player who had plenty of detractors entering the NFL, he’s proven so many of them wrong. But faltering down the home stretch of the regular season would bring some doubt into the equation.
Herbert will have the opportunity to perform well to end the season with three AFC West matchups against the Raiders, Chargers and Chiefs — in that order — to close the year. All three of those defenses are susceptible to the pass, especially with the way the likes of Keenan Allen have been playing in tandem with Herbert as of late.
These final three games won’t make or break Herbert’s career. But in terms of perception and, perhaps, in the Offensive Rookie of the Year race, he needs a strong finish to leave his rookie season on a positive note. If he falters as he has in at least two of his last three games, though, that would leave a somewhat sour taste in the mouths of Chargers fans.