Justin Herbert connected with Quentin Johnston five times as the Chargers nearly came back to beat the Texans this week.
The Chargers fell to 11-5 after a 20-16 loss to the Texans at home this past Saturday. After a rough start by the defense (14 points allowed in under the first six minutes), they hunkered down and allowed only six through the remaining 34 minutes of game time.
Now, if the game had started at that point instead of six minutes prior, the Bolts would have won 16-6, but that’s not these things work unfortunately. The Chargers now have to take this one on the chin, focus on finishing the regular season, and prepare for whomever ends up being their opponent in the wild card round.
With all that said, here are my winners and one big loser for the Chargers in Week 17.
Winners
WR Quentin Johnston
Johnston followed his big performance against the Cowboys with another strong outing in Week 17 with a five-catch, 98-yard stat line to lead the Chargers in both categories. On a day where Keenan Allen was dropping passes, and Ladd McConkey was nearly MIA, the third-year wideout continued to show why he’s still one of the impact pass-catchers on the Chargers.
QB Justin Herbert
Herbert nearly willed the entire Chargers offense to victory this past Saturday after his defense lent the Texans 14 points within the first six minutes of game time. Despite being sacked five times and pressured on 38.1 percent of his dropbacks, Herbert still completed 21-of-32 passes for 236 yards and a score with one pick while also leading the team in rushing yards (37).
Down 17-3 late in the third quarter, Herbert put together one of the drives of his life. He completed a 17-yard pass to Allen on third-and-three and then scrambled for 28 yards on a third-and-14 just three plays later before finding Oronde Gadsden II for his lone touchdown pass to cap a gotta-have-it drive.
Each and every week Herbert proves just how important he to the entire Chargers franchise, and this season only goes to show that you cannot put enough resources into making sure he has the protection he deserves.
S Elijah Molden
Molden has had a ho-hum 2025 season following a breakout 2024 campaign that was cut short to a broken leg. Heading into Week 17, Molden had no interceptions, pass breakups, tackles for loss, or sack. No impact players of note.
He then shut me up after I was tweeting about such things by picking off his first pass of the season against the Texans. Pro Football Focus did give him the blame for allowing the 43-yard touchdown to wideout Jaylin Noel, but he otherwise ended with the team’s highest coverage grade at 81.7.
Losers
Pass Protection
Herbert was sacked five times by the Texans, two of which came on back-to-back plays by lineman Derek Barnett. Pass rushers Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson picked up right where they left off in last January’s playoff game in which they battered and abused Herbert down-in and down-out. Starting left tackle Bobby Hart was so bad in the first half that Jim Harbaugh made a mid-game switch to Austin Deculus (!) who held down the blindside for the rest of the contest.
Per Pro Football Focus, Herbert was pressured 12 times with the offensive line letting up 16 total pressures, including four from both Mekhi Becton and Trey Pipkins. Hart let up three pressures and two sacks in just 36 snaps, a little over half the snaps played as the rest of the line.
It’s still hard to believe that the only options at tackle behind the injured Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt were Trey Pipkins plus a handful of guys who were either unemployed or castoffs from other teams, but here we are.
Category: General Sports
