As talented as Justin Herbert is, he entered Saturday at risk of making it through five full seasons without a playoff win. As a road favorite against a Texans team that endured a sluggish finish to the regular season, he had a seemingly strong chance to avoid that fate — but four interceptions are tough for any quarterback to overcome.
A Chargers team that won games by playing sound defense and avoiding turnovers suddenly turned into a turnover machine in Houston, with Herbert stunningly exceeding his regular season interception total with four in a 32-12 loss.
Los Angeles’ offensive troubles certainly weren’t all on Herbert’s shoulders, as drops plagued plenty of pass-catchers, including Will Dissly. But it wasn’t the day the highly-paid quarterback wanted after the Chargers blew a 27-point lead in his only other playoff start two years ago.
Here’s a look at all four of Herbert’s interceptions in Saturday’s wild-card loss to the Texans.
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Justin Herbert interceptions vs. Texans
Herbert’s first interception came with a 6-0 lead in hand, and he might have gotten greedy as he looked to put the Chargers up 13-0. Kamari Lassiter won a one-on-one battle with Quentin Johnston, as many at home might have predicted, and he jumped up to snag the pass from Herbert.
Now trailing 13-6 with a chance to tie the game, Herbert’s pass sailed high of Ladd McConkey and was returned all the way to the opposite end zone by Eric Murray.
Herbert’s third interception fell squarely on Dissly, as the tight end let a fairly simple pass bounce right off his hands and into the arms of Derek Stingley Jr. A big return by Stingley helped erase any momentum the Chargers thought they might have been building as they tried to get back into the game.
When all hope was already lost for the Chargers, the newly-minted All-Pro Stingley snagged his second interception of the day to add insult to injury for Herbert.
Herbert has never thrown more than two interceptions in a regular season game, and he only has eight multi-interception games through five seasons in the NFL. The playoffs don’t count toward those stats, but that won’t erase Sunday’s disaster from Herbert’s memory any time soon.
Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh complimented Herbert for his showing on Saturday, calling his star hurler a “complete beast”, according to ESPN’s Kris Rhim. He was similarly impressed with Houston’s front seven, who tallied four sacks and 19 pressures.
“The best we’ve ever seen,” Harbaugh said.
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Justin Herbert stats 2024
| Starts | Completion pct. | Yards | TD | INT | Passer rating |
| 17 | 65.9% | 3,870 | 23 | 3 | 101.7 |
Herbert didn’t have the most eye-popping statistical season in the 2024 regular season, coming in under 4,000 yards and 25 touchdowns. Still, it was one of his finest years because he kept his turnovers even more limited than he typically does.
The Chargers star threw just three interceptions all season, including just one through his first 13 games. L.A.’s offense prioritized protecting the ball — similar to how Michigan operated in Jim Harbaugh’s final two seasons, in which J.J. McCarthy accounted for just nine interceptions — but the unit abruptly ran out of gas in Houston.
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