The LA Chargers have gone all-in this offseason in adding talent to an already talented roster that features one of the best quarterbacks in the entire league, Justin Herbert. The excitement for the 2022 season is through the roof as the team should be considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Yes, Justin Herbert has not won a playoff game, let alone played in one as a member of the Chargers. Yes, the Chargers have had a history of blowing games and losing in new ways every week, but this is a different era.
Plus, history is on the Chargers' side, especially when it comes to the team's quarterback-head coach duo. It is no secret that Herbert is talented and Brandon Staley has reinvented the culture of the team but from a historical standpoint, the duo's second season together is going to be a big one.
History is on the Chargers' side when it comes to Justin Herbert and Brandon Staley.
This is the first time that Justin Herbert is going to get to play in the same offense for the second season in a row since he was in high school. Just let that sink in. He has done the things that he has done in his short career thus far despite literally having the deck stacked against him.
Thus, it is reasonable to expect another jump in his second season in this system on top of the jump he took in year two as a starter. It is more than just Herbert finally having some consistency, though. Historically speaking, the second season of a young quarterback with a head coach produces great results.
Just look at the AFC Champions from last season, the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Burrow too was in his second season in the league but more importantly, he was in his second season with head coach Zac Taylor in that offensive scheme.
Before Burrow, it was Patrick Mahomes. Mahomes was elite in his first year as a starter but it was his second season as a starter that he made a run to the Super Bowl and won it all. Before Mahomes, it was Carson Wentz. Wentz may not have been playing in the playoffs that year, but he made a massive jump in his second season in Doug Pederson's offense. A jump he has since been able to replicate.
Heck, even Jared Goff made the Super Bowl in his second season with Sean McVay. He was ultimately the reason why the Rams lost that game but his numbers from that season were actually pretty good.
The first example of this (in this modern era of the NFL) was Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks. In his second season as a starter under Pete Carroll, the third-round pick led the Seahawks to a blowout Super Bowl win. Sure, the Legion of Doom played a big role but Wilson had already established himself as one of the best.
READ OUR 2022 GAME-BY-GAME PREDICTIONS HERE
Justin Herbert has already established himself as one of the best and if he follows in the footsteps of these previous quarterbacks then the Chargers should be making a run for the Super Bowl in 2022. As the old saying goes, history repeats itself.