LA Chargers: 3 bold predictions vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4

3. This is Justin Herbert’s last start until Week 14

This is not what I want. The LA Chargers offense seems to operate much better with Justin Herbert under center than Tyrod Taylor. However, the starting job is Taylor’s once he is healthy and before I thought that Herbert was not going to play all year. Once Taylor gets it back, I think he holds onto it for quite some time.

He should be ready to go next Monday against the New Orleans Saints and that should start an eight-game run for Tyrod that is not fantastic but is good enough to keep his job. Let’s break it down.

A loss to the Saints won’t matter. The Saints are a really good football team and that will be spun if the Chargers lose on the road. He won’t lose his job, even with a bad performance.

Then the Bolts have a really easy stretch from Week 6 to Week 9. They play the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars and Las Vegas Raiders. You could make the case that an ugly loss against the Jets would be enough to push Tyrod out, but I do not think it is.

I think they go 2-2 in that stretch at worst to keep Taylor’s job. If they lose in Week 4, that would move them to 3-6 on the season.

Then there is a bye week. This would seemingly be a good time for Herbert, but Taylor did not play bad enough to lose his job and already missed out on three starts. He starts against a bad Denver team. Win or lose, he has the Buffalo Bills next week. Anthony Lynn wants to give him that revenge game.

Win or loss that game, the Chargers play the New England Patriots the next week. You could make the case for Herbert then, but if he has a bad game in Week 4, Anthony Lynn is going to hold off in playing him against Bill Belichick.

We then get to Week 14, where the Chargers play a bad defensive team in the Atlanta Falcons. At this point, the team could be anywhere from 3-8 to 7-6 (at the absolute best). Herbert (hopefully) takes over.