It’s the dawn of a new day for the LA Chargers franchise

The LA Chargers have entered a new era.

It’s a new day for LA Chargers football, folks. Even though it came unexpectedly and without warning, Justin Herbert was the main attraction this past Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs and fate did Anthony Lynn‘s work for him in bringing him the new franchise quarterback Charger fans knew they had on a silver platter.

Before I start on Herbert, I have to acknowledge the fact that what went down Sunday came at Tyrod Taylor‘s expense. The guy has been a hard worker in this league for nine years now and has the utmost respect of his peers, so much in fact that he’s been named the starting quarterback twice over an early first-round pick in his career.

This is not to be taken as a diss at him, but rather a silver lining for this Chargers franchise. It’s unfortunate that Herbert got his chance to show his stuff under these certain circumstances, but everything happens for a reason, and I believe now the door is open for this team to go further than it expected to going into this year.

We all expected Herbert to be held off for at least the first month or so of the regular season, perhaps even longer than that. Some even thought he wouldn’t play at all.

But this past Sunday was a sign from the football gods that the time to move forward with your next franchise quarterback is now for the Bolts.

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The days of Aaron Rodgers sitting behind Brett Favre for years before getting his chance are long gone. Rookie quarterbacks are coming into the league more ready than ever to take over starting roles.

From Andrew Luck to Baker Mayfield to Russell Wilson to Joe Burrow and countless others, franchises these days have an obligation to do what is best for the team and go with the best quarterback on their roster for the starting gig.

Putting your team in the best position to win games is paramount, and younger quarterbacks have increasingly and consistently showed a knack for being able to give their franchise the best chance to be competitive. On this level, youth at the position is proving to be growing the game.

Justin Herbert is no different. He was absolutely sensational in his NFL debut going toe-to-toe with the might Chiefs and golden boy Patrick Mahomes giving the defending champs a scare they needed early in this 2020 campaign.

A few mistakes made by Herbert in this game will get doubters to question his readiness, but there’s no doubt in my mind this LA Chargers team was in great hands this past Sunday and will continue to be if Herbert is named the full-fledged starter the rest of the way.

We now have an interesting team in the AFC West and AFC in general because…….folks…….Herbert can play. Big arm. Sneaky athleticism. Believe it or not, shows up in key situations despite his naysayers pointing to his bad Auburn game in college to try and prove otherwise.

Like I said before, fate did Anthony Lynn’s job for him. Herbert wasn’t supposed to play in this game and the Bolts were forced to throw in their rookie quarterback, who did fantastic against the defending champs.

Now the pressure is off Lynn of when exactly he’ll move to Herbert. His decision has been made crystal clear. I know he wants to look out for Tyrod, but the right thing to do here is to keep rolling with the rookie QB and put your team in playoff contention like Herbert proved he can do this past Sunday. This isn’t a Hue Jackson-Baker Mayfield situation where the coach is trying to keep his job and doesn’t want to start the clock on his number one pick QB.

I’ll be honest with you guys, the LA Chargers didn’t really do it for me this season when I was making my preseason predictions. They seemed very clearly to me like a team in-between relativity and obscurity with a bridge quarterback in Tyrod Taylor to help get them over the hump into 2021.

But now that I’ve seen what Herbert can do, this is a team I’m excited about moving forward this season. Sometimes sitting works out for young high-draft quarterbacks. I mean, just look at Patrick Mahomes. However, I feel in this day and age of the sport, the higher likelihood is that they will be successful if you start them right away.

Herbert will go through rough patches this year, but ultimately, I believe the Chargers will be in a much better situation than they would have been had they gone strictly Tyrod this entire season.

Charger fans, the future of your franchise came a day early. Through unfortunate means, yes. But now we all know what the mystery rookie quarterback is capable of, and so do the LA Chargers staff. This is ultimately going to work out for the best.