Chargers Offense Stalls Against Steelers, Potentially Lose Herbert to Injury

Failing to score in the second half, the Los Angeles Chargers suffered their first loss in the Jim Harbaugh era to the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that saw star quarterback Justin Herbert exit due to an injury.

By Austin Gage | Contributing Sports Writer

Failing to score in the second half, the Los Angeles Chargers suffered their first loss in the Jim Harbaugh era to the undefeated Pittsburgh Steelers in a game that saw star quarterback Justin Herbert exit due to an injury.

For the first time under new head coach Jim Harbaugh, the Los Angeles Chargers dropped a game as they suffered a 20-10 defeat at the hands of the now 3-0 Pittsburgh Steelers.

Los Angeles, a team that has established itself as a run-first football team in the first two weeks of the season, just could not get the ground game going Sunday afternoon against a very tough Steeler defense. After averaging over 197 yards per game running the ball in their first two games, the Chargers were held to a drastic low of just 61 yards on the ground. And, for the third straight game, star quarterback Justin Herbert failed to reach 150 passing yards, a clear indicator of Harbaugh’s intentions with the Los Angeles offense for the rest of the season.

Although Herbert finished with a season-low 125 passing yards on 12 for 18 attempts, he started the game on fire. Despite stalling for a punt on the first two offensive drives, the fifth-year man out of the University of Oregon orchestrated a quick five-play drive to put the first points of the game on the board. A blown coverage assignment by the Steeler defense saw wide receiver Quentin Johnston emerge wide-open down the left sideline, and Herbert hit him in stride for the easy 27-yard touchdown.

Johnston, a second-year player who was highly criticized in his first year for a multitude of reasons including drop issues and compared play against other successful fellow rookie wide receivers in the 2023 NFL Draft class, now has three touchdown receptions in the last two weeks. His first-quarter reception put the Chargers up 7-0 and he would go on to finish his day with a team-leading 44 receiving yards on 2 catches and that touchdown score.

However, Pittsburgh and quarterback Justin Fields would respond immediately, tying the game up at 7 after a 13-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a Fields’ 5-yard touchdown rush. With three 3rd-down conversions on the grueling drive, Fields and the Steeler offense were able to equalize the game. Fields, who only became confirmed as the starter for Pittsburgh after an injury to presumed starter Russell Wilson before Week 1, has impressed and led the Steelers to a 3-0 record to begin the 2024 campaign. 

The former first-round pick struggled with turnovers and tacking sacks in his previous time with the Chicago Bears but has looked much better with Pittsburgh and has eliminated careless mistakes. For the afternoon, Fields tallied 245 passing yards, a passing touchdown and an interception to go along with 6 yards on the ground with the rushing score. 

A solid response from the Charger offense ensued as they used a 12-play drive to lead to a Cameron Dicker field goal, taking the lead once again at 10-7. A tough Steeler defense held tough in the redzone to force the field goal.

The rest of the first half saw no other points scored despite a field goal attempt by Steelers kicker Chris Boswell. The ambitious 62-yard attempt proved to be wide right and the Bolts entered the locker room with a three-point lead.

Unfortunately for Los Angeles, that lead would evaporate very quickly as the opening Steelers drive of the second half capped off with a field goal for Boswell to knot the game at 10-10.

The second half was a flat-out disaster for the Charger offense. Despite an effort by the defense that included a tipped interception of Fields by former Steeler linebacker Bud Dupree, with really only one big mistake in the second half being a 55-yard touchdown reception given up midway through the fourth quarter to wide receiver Calvin Austin, the Bolt second-half offense was non-existent. 

In the second half, the Steelers had 272 offensive yards compared to zero for the Chargers. Three out of the four offensive drives for the Chargers resulted in negative yardage and allowed the Steelers to build a 10-point lead that they would not look back from. A game-ending drive from the Steelers saw them take up the final five minutes basically all on the ground as the Chargers defense could not force them off the field.

“They got the momentum and kept it, held on to it. That’s the way it went. Any kind of drive, any kind of points, three-and-outs; those give momentum and we weren’t able to get it back and hold on to it,” Harbaugh said.

To add much more insult to injury, Herbert, who entered the week’s matchup with a lingering high ankle sprain picked up in last week’s victory over the Carolina Panthers, was seen limping off the field midway through the third quarter, potentially aggravating the injury and forcing backup Taylor Heinicke into the game. Paired with injuries to fellow stars in linebacker Joey Bosa and offensive tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, Sunday was not kind to Los Angeles in the health department. 

“My responsibility as a quarterback is to give everything that I can to this team and to my teammates, and I felt like I did that,” said Herbert. “I pushed myself and I couldn’t go anymore, and I had a tough time walking on it, moving on it, pushing off of it, and I knew that Taylor gave us a better shot to win.”

A bright spot for the Chargers included star safety Derwin James Jr., who ended his day with 8 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, and a sack. 

However, James Jr.’s solid play was countered with another negative for the Chargers that was delivered Monday afternoon. Thanks to a helmet-to-helmet hit on Steeler tight end Pat Freiermuth that was flagged for unnecessary roughness, the NFL decided to suspend the safety for next week’s matchup, citing “repeated violations of playing rules intended to protect the health and safety of players.”

After a tough Sunday for the Chargers that included a loss and potentially bigger losses to individual players, they will host the undefeated and back-to-back Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. The now 2-1 Chargers will hope to have Herbert and other key contributors back in a divisional game that represents the most important game of the season to this point.