EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) — Justin Herbert and his broken left hand have plenty of time to recover now. The Los Angeles Chargers quarterback was left with few answers after falling to 0-3 in his playoff career.
“Haven’t figured that out yet,” he said.
The Chargers (11-7) were soundly beaten by the New England Patriots on Sunday, losing 16-3 in a wild-card game that included Herbert getting sacked six times to waste opportunities created by the defense.
The Chargers haven't won a postseason game since 2018.
“Definitely felt like we had a team that was very capable of making a run for it,” said wide receiver Keenan Allen, who returned to the franchise this season but will turn 34 shortly after free agency begins in March.
The Chargers finished second in the AFC West and made the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since a four-year run from 2006-09. Herbert was a big reason they did so, gutting it out while getting hit an NFL-leading 129 times in the regular season and another 11 times against the Patriots.
The 27-year-old quarterback had surgery to repair a broken bone in his nonthrowing hand just over a month ago. Herbert downplayed the state of his hand, but coach Jim Harbaugh said after Sunday's loss, “It's an issue.”
The offensive line was hit hard by injuries this season, including the losses of starting tackles Joe Alt and Rashawn Slater. That led to nine different O-line combinations playing at least 50 snaps together.
“They came back to bite us,” Allen said.
The offense didn't get much going against the Patriots, and Allen had a few crucial drops.
“Felt like we had a lot of talent on the offensive side of the ball where we shouldn’t be in those situations,” he said. “When the defense is holding the rope for so long, we got to help those guys out.”
The Chargers have 27 players slated to be free agents.
Besides Allen, other unrestricted free agents include RB Najee Harris (torn Achilles tendon in Week 3 ended his season), backup QB Trey Lance (made one start in Week 18 while Herbert rested), OLB Khalil Mack, OLB Odafe Oweh, OT Trey Pipkins, LB Denzel Perryman and DT Teair Tart.
The Chargers have effective salary cap space of $103 million, according to overthecap.com. But with needs elsewhere, they could move on from G Mekhi Becton, who has struggled with injuries and inconsistent play. He has a $12.5 million cap hit this year.
Harbaugh was asked Sunday if any offseason changes could include moving on from offensive coordinator Greg Roman and he said, “We’re going to look at that, and everything.”
Someone who seems likely to be gone is well-respected defensive coordinator Jesse Minter, who came with Harbaugh from Michigan two seasons ago. He's on multiple lists to be interviewed for the eight head-coaching vacancies around the league.
The Chargers will turn their attention to free agency. They also have five picks in this year's NFL draft, with compensatory selections announced later. They have selections in each of the first four rounds and another in the sixth. Their fifth- and seventh-round picks were previously exchanged for Oweh and S Elijah Molden.
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