INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles Chargers have lengthy been synonymous with dropping in probably the most heartbreaking trend.
As Bengals receiver Ja’Marr Chase danced in the long run zone within the fourth quarter Sunday after serving to Cincinnati rally from an 18-point first-half deficit, this recreation gave the impression to be one other chapter in a e book laden with Chargers disappointments.
However Sunday evening was totally different. The protection and quarterback Justin Herbert buoyed the Chargers as they averted one other late-game meltdown to beat the Bengals 34-27 at SoFi Stadium. The win was probably the most obvious declaration of how totally different these Chargers are underneath coach Jim Harbaugh.
“This crew got here with extra function,” linebacker Daiyan Henley stated. “Perhaps it wasn’t there final yr for no matter motive, however proper now now we have function, now we have perception.”
Outdoors linebacker Joey Bosa is the longest-tenured Charger, drafted by the crew in San Diego in 2016.
In a gathering with the protection on Saturday, he instructed his teammates a couple of cynical feeling that might overcome Chargers groups in large video games that they’d at all times one way or the other lose. However Bosa stated he instructed the group this yr felt totally different and that he had a particular feeling about this Chargers crew, a sense he had by no means felt in his profession.
“Having Coach Harbaugh and having the entire employees, I feel, has shifted the tradition right here,” Bosa stated.
He continued: “I really feel like now we have a shot. … It simply feels just a little totally different proper now. It seems like if we maintain doing what we have to and making ready the best way we do, not getting comfy, and simply persevering with to enhance each week, I feel now we have a shot at one thing particular.”
Coming into Sunday’s recreation, the Chargers boasted the league’s best-scoring protection, holding opponents to 13.1 factors per recreation. However they’d confronted the league’s second-easiest schedule, in response to ESPN analytics, elevating questions on how good this protection actually was.
Cincinnati, which was sixth within the league in factors per recreation (26.1), could be the primary take a look at for this unit. Henley stated Harbaugh talked to the crew Friday concerning the many critics of the protection to inspire his gamers for Sunday.
In the long run, the Chargers’ protection fluctuated from stout to abysmal. The 27 factors allowed had been a season excessive, and their 21 factors allowed within the second half had been probably the most they’ve allowed since Week 15 of final season, once they gave up 21 to the Las Vegas Raiders. (Coach Brandon Staley and common supervisor Tom Telesco had been fired after that loss.)
However the protection bought essential stops late, together with a success on Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow by Henley that pressured an incomplete move.
“Protection was at our greatest when our greatest was wanted,” Harbaugh stated.
Herbert took the sector with 45 seconds remaining on the Chargers’ 16-yard-line and shortly turned L.A.’s potential heartbreak right into a storybook ending.
He linked with huge receiver Ladd McConkey for completions of 28 and 27 yards to place the Chargers in place for a area objective to seal the sport. On their subsequent drive, nevertheless, he handed the ball to working again J.Okay. Dobbins, who broke free for a 29-yard landing to successfully finish the sport.
It was Herbert’s fifteenth profitable drive since he entered the league in 2020, the second most within the NFL over that span. He completed with 297 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns and 5 carries for 65 speeding yards.
“Begin the MVP talks,” Dobbins stated.
