The easy story out of this one is Justin Herbert's 62.4 passer rating. The real one is that the play which decided the game wasn't a bad decision. It was Uchenna Nwosu running free.
Seattle 30, Los Angeles 23. The Seahawks are 3-1. The Chargers are 0-4. With 1:03 left, Herbert went down at the LAC 20 for a 9-yard loss, fumbled, and Derick Hall recovered it. An unnecessary roughness penalty on LAC-C.Strange tacked on 10 more from the 20. That drive had started at the Chargers' 11 after Michael Dickson's 49-yard punt and a fair catch by Derius Davis with 1:49 on the clock. One strip sack, one seven-point margin, no mystery about how the afternoon turned.
Here's the part that gets me yelled at. Herbert's line, 19 of 31 for 189 yards with a touchdown, two interceptions and that 62.4 rating, is not the indictment it reads as. Four sacks for 35 yards is the context. Six carries for 40 yards, including a 26-yard scramble, is what a quarterback does when the pocket is theoretical. The interceptions are his and I won't pretend otherwise. But a guy throwing 19 completions at 6.1 yards an attempt while getting buried four times is playing behind a problem, not creating one.
The Chargers' 0-4 is being filed as a quarterback story. The evidence from this game points at the front and at the sideline. Omarion Hampton ran 9 times for 45 yards and a touchdown. Keaton Mitchell got 10 carries for 39 and caught five balls for 24. Hampton at five yards a pop taking fewer handoffs than Mitchell is a question the staff should have to answer before Monday. Kimani Vidal turned 5 carries into 25 yards and caught 2 for 11 with a score. The backs produced. They just weren't the plan.
Herbert wasn't the only one hunting explosives alone. Tre' Harris caught 3 for 60 and threw a pass, 0 for 1, which tells you where the Chargers think their chunk plays have to come from. Quentin Johnston's one catch went 44 yards. Oronde Gadsden caught 5 of 8 targets for 36. Derius Davis returned two kicks for 64 yards and lost a fumble doing the other job.
Seattle's side of the ledger is short and satisfied: Sam Darnold is listed as the Seahawks' passing leader and a rushing leader, with Emanuel Wilson, Rashid Shaheed and George Holani behind him in the run game. That's what 3-1 looks like when the quarterback does enough, the carries get split, and the defense gets the last word.
So here's my verdict, and I'll take the heat for it. The Chargers are 0-4 because their protection is losing games before their quarterback can win them, and every week the conversation lands on Herbert instead of the four sacks and the free rusher at the most expensive moment of the afternoon. If he gets a clean pocket, this is a functional offense. He got turf instead.
The fix isn't a new quarterback. It's five guys who can hold up for three seconds. Until that changes, 0-4 is going to look exactly like this every Sunday, and Herbert is going to keep wearing it.
