The Los Angeles Chargers were unable to change their trend of playoff misfortune with Justin Herbert under center, as they got the stuffing knocked out of them by Drake Maye and a New England Patriots team that didn't let No. 10 do anything.
In the middle of LA's loss, in which the offense mustered just three points, Cris Collinsworth was not interested in hearing the offensive line excuses. "Mike [Tirico], the excuses of the year, and there are legitimate excuses, don't fly here tonight," Collinsworth said, "because this offensive line has done well enough of their protecting him. It has been the ability of the passing game to get anything, but they just haven't been able to do it."
While that was an ill-timed comment, as Herbert was sacked and fumbled on the next play, there is some truth to that. After failing to once again push LA through to the next level, the Herbert criticism dial is going to be cranked up to the max.
Herbert has now played three playoff games, and he's lost all of them. Between a historic choke against the Jaguars, a four-interception performance against the Texans, and this monstrosity of a game, Herbert's playoff record is quickly becoming the easiest target of derision across the NFL.
Cris Collinsworth rips Justin Herbert for poor performance as Chargers lose to Patriots
Herbert will be entering his seventh season in the pros, and he will have zero playoff victories to his game. The poor offensive line play can explain why he isn't reaching the lofty statistical levels he hit earlier in his career, but it does not explain going almost a full half without completing a pass.
Greg Roman is a terrible offensive coordinator, and that much is indisputable. However, much worse quarterbacks have carried worse offensive coaching staffs to playoff wins. There's no reason Bryce Young should have looked five times as good as Herbert.
Even if the Chargers lost this game as expected, putting up a performance this pitiful has to be placed at the feet of the quarterback to some degree. Herbert is obviously not going anywhere, nor should he, but this loss needs to force the organization to do some recalibrating.
Perhaps this can all be remedied when Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater return to full health. But say that doesn't happen. If that's the case, the Chargers may be doomed to even more years of dominant regular season play from their quarterback before a regression in the postseason.