ustin Herbert is one of the most promising quarterbacks in the NFL. In fact, Justin Herbert has forever been one of the most promising quarterbacks in the NFL. That adjective, "promising," continued to be load-bearing on Sunday, as Herbert and his Chargers turned in an underwhelming performance in a 26-14 loss to the Raiders. Los Angeles are now 0-2 on the year, with those losses coming to the team that just picked No 1 in the draft and a moribund Arizona who picked No 3. Stockholders in Herbert's growth were taking a beating in after-hours trading. But, as ever, there's plenty of reason to debate whether Herbert underachieved or whether his team let him down.
Herbert is 6ft 6in, can run, has a golden right arm and is capable of making astonishing throws. NFL decision-makers view him as roughly the sixth-best QB in the league but also say things like, "He should have more accolades at this point." Certainly, he should have more wins this season, but on Sunday the 28-year-old found himself outdueled by one of the league's senior citizens in Vegas quarterback Kirk Cousins, who is 10 years his senior. Herbert completed 15 of 27 passes for a touchdown and two interceptions, and he also took three sacks. Cousins threw a pick and took two sacks but was much more efficient from down to down (8.7 yards per attempt to Herbert's 7.1), and the Chargers offense mostly sputtered. In 13 possessions, Los Angeles put together two long touchdown drives and otherwise didn't march more than 30 yards in a series.
How much of this is Herbert's fault, though? It's an eternal question, and one that came up after the Chargers' playoff wildcard loss to the Patriots last season. In that game, Herbert played miserably but arguably had no chance to be terrible, because the New England defenders were in his face all evening. In almost any Herbert loss, one can find examples of his teammates letting him down. Sunday was another good example. Herbert wasn't terrific by any means, and given his billing, he'd ideally be able to get over failures by his teammates. But there's not much the QB can do when tight end David Njoku bobbles a catch on an ever so slightly underthrown ball and turns it into an interception. Or when an under-pressure Herbert throws a ball that either of two receivers could catch without a problem, but one cuts off the other and drops it. Then there's the injury luck – not so much to Herbert, who has generally been durable while playing through a number of injuries – but to those around him. Every year, a key member of his line or receiving corps seems to go down with a season-ending injury, leaving him exposed or without a weapon to deploy against opposing defenses. There are also question marks over the coaches who have overseen his career. Jim Harbaugh came to the Chargers with high expectations, but has yet to win a playoff game with the team, while Mike McDaniel, the team's new offensive coordinator, has a reputation as a schematic whiz, but the Chargers offense has sputtered.
Herbert, of course, must shoulder some of the blame himself. The Chargers have not done a good job of protecting him, but the very best quarterbacks find a way to win even when the pocket collapses. He is also 0-3 in the playoffs – a small sample size, but it still raises question marks about how he performs against the very best teams. Unfortunately, this season there have been question marks against very average teams too.
The blame game will be in vogue this week. A team that we expected to contend with the Chiefs and Broncos for the AFC West have already dug themselves a substantial hole, and they've done it while using up one of the easiest stretches of schedule that any team will face all year. The Chargers are the only 0-2 team in the division and one of just four in the AFC. To recover, they'll need Herbert to be Superman. He has that gear, but consistency remains elusive, and the team's margin for error is now awfully thin.
Brock Purdy, QB, San Francisco 49ers. According to ESPN's QBR ratings, Purdy had one of the 10 best games by a quarterback since the rankings began in 2006 (in case you're wondering, the best was from Carson Palmer in 2009). Admittedly, Purdy was playing against the Dolphins on Sunday but he superb: he completed 20 of his 22 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns. He was also his team's leading rusher with 30 yards and a touchdown on three carries. This came after another three-touchdown performance in the season opener against the No Sleep Till Melbourne Los Angeles Rams. Most of us expected the Niners to settle for a wildcard place out of the stacked NFC West this season but at this rate they could take the division.
Stat of the week
56. How many fewer points the Bears scored in their loss to the Vikings on Sunday, as compared to in their 59-37 romp over Carolina in Week 1. Chicago entered the week on as much of a spiritual high as the franchise has enjoyed in decades but ended it in a much more concerning place. Minnesota defensive coordinator Brian Flores had Caleb Williams and the offense in a blender all afternoon, and then things got considerably worse in the fourth quarter. That's when Williams injured his hamstring, seriously enough that he wasn't putting weight on his right leg as he walked off the field. (Reporters did see him walking under his own power as he left the locker room later.) Bears head coach Ben Johnson said he was "happy it's nothing with the knee," ruling out a torn ACL, and that the team would learn more on Monday.
Video of the week
The Steelers' dreadful offense painted their masterpiece on a third-and-7 at the Patriots' 22-yard line, in a game that CBS subject millions to as its national game of the week with Jim Nantz and JJ Watt in the booth. Trailing 10-0 in the second quarter, Aaron Rodgers took a shotgun snap and quickly found himself in a New England situation, as his blockers let pass rushers converge from both his left and right. What followed was a circus. Both teams booted the ball on the ground for a solid seven seconds. The catastrophe came to a humorous end when the Steelers' left tackle, 317-pounder Troy Fautanu, fell on the ball for a loss of 36 yards that pushed Pittsburgh out of field-goal range. The Patriots went on to a 20-3 win. The Steelers' offense looks even worse this year under 42-year-old Rodgers and his once-and-present head coach, the supposed offensive thinker Mike McCarthy.
Elsewhere around the league
Williams wasn't the only top-two pick from the 2024 draft to get hurt. Commanders QB Jayden Daniels did not make it through his team's 37-20 loss at the Cowboys. Particularly upsetting was the location of his injury: the same left elbow that Daniels dislocated last season. An offensive lineman stepped on Daniels's foot during an under-center exchange, and he appeared to hurt the elbow while trying to break his fall to the turf. A replay of Daniels's elbow bending in the wrong direction prompted a relatable exclamation of "oh shit" from Tom Brady, watching from the Fox booth. Daniels throws with his right arm (ie: not the one injured here), but that's only of mild comfort to the Commanders. Washington head coach Dan Quinn said after the game that Daniels had indeed dislocated his elbow again, although no bones were broken. The quarterback is expected to return at some point this season.
Spare a thought for the players in the Eagles' win over the Titans in Nashville. Fox reported that the turf (not the air) temperature reached 157F (69.4C) and some players' cleats even melted. "It was hot as shit, everybody was as hot as shit," Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said after his team's 24-20 win. "I didn't play a snap and I had to get an IV."
The Browns beat the Buccaneers behind an unusually competent effort from their pitiful quarterback, Deshaun Watson. The QB on the losing end was Baker Mayfield, whom the Browns chased off after 2021 so that they could sign Watson to the worst contract in football history. Watson has spent his Browns career either injured, ineffective, or suspended after the league looked into allegations of serial sexual misconduct. Watson's 24-of-30 effort for 238 yards and two touchdowns doesn't absolve him, or the Browns, of anything but does save the franchise a bit of short-term embarrassment that would have come with Mayfield beating them.
The Panthers enjoyed one of the most dominant wins of the young season, a 34-3 destruction of a Falcons team that again started third-string QB Cooper Rush (and also played training camp darling Jack Strand, an undrafted rookie from Division II Minnesota State-Moorhead). The story here was about a QB with a more robust pedigree: Bryce Young, whose career looks like it might amount to something after all. The 2023 No 1 pick came on strong in the last few months of last season and played well. Young averaged eight yards per throw while avoiding interceptions. Even better, Young's sharpest connection was with 2025 first-round wideout Tetairoa McMillan, who torched Atlanta corner AJ Terrell for a 26-yard completion in the first three minutes and went on to a 101-yard day. Young remains a work in progress – his third-down performance left much to be desired, and he took two sacks – but seeing that progress doesn't require a squint. Most of the best performances of Young's career have come between last November and now.