Sit Justin Herbert Until the Chargers Can Block

Herbert has been sacked 31 times in eight games, and the line that allowed it still hasn't been fixed.

Jim Harbaugh already made the right call once. Midway through the fourth quarter Sunday, with Justin Herbert sacked eight times and nursing an injured finger on his left hand, the Chargers coach sent in backup D.J. Uiagalelei even though Herbert wanted to stay in, the Los Angeles Times reported.

He should keep making that call. Sit Herbert until the Chargers can block. The 44-22 loss to Houston at SoFi Stadium dropped them to 0-8, and they're the NFL's only winless team. The season's over. The quarterback they can't replace is the only thing they have left to lose, and I'd stop risking him behind this line.

Harbaugh said the injury to Herbert's non-throwing hand "could be a fracture," and tests were scheduled for Monday. Herbert said afterward that it "shouldn't be an issue," The Sporting Tribune reported. I believe him, and it doesn't change anything. A clean X-ray won't fix the five guys in front of him.

Start with Sunday. Eight sacks was a career high for Herbert, and The Sporting Tribune noted that no Chargers quarterback had gone down that often in one game since Dan Fouts, 50 years ago. It wasn't one bad afternoon, either. He's been sacked 31 times in eight games. That's a pace for 66, well past the 54 he took last season, when he finished one short of the league high.

And it's getting worse. After the Oct. 11 loss to Denver, the Associated Press reported in a story carried by Fox Sports that Herbert had been sacked 17 times through five games. He's taken 14 more in the three games since.

Nor is this line one tweak away from fine. Injuries forced the Chargers to start four rookies up front against Denver, the AP reported, in the same year the club hired Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator partly to cut down on that kind of punishment. Sunday, Cole Strange got pulled from his spot at right guard mid-game, and Harbaugh conceded somebody else might take it over from here, The Sporting Tribune reported.

Asked about the eight sacks, Harbaugh said "Too many times," per The Sporting Tribune, and promised to "do everything in our power to keep him protected." Everything in his power includes the depth chart.

The best objection is that benching a healthy star looks like tanking and tells him the building has quit on him. The 0-8 record told him that first. The Times notes the Chargers are already inching toward the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. Keeping Herbert out of the line of fire while they get there isn't quitting on him. It's the one way to show they haven't.

Then there's history. These Chargers could become the first NFL team to go 0-17, and the schedule gives them chances to avoid it. They play at Baltimore on Nov. 16, a Monday night game against a Ravens team that has lost four straight and traded for Jacoby Brissett after losing its top two quarterbacks. The Jets (2-7) and Dolphins (1-7) come later. If those games are winnable, let Uiagalelei try to win them.

The franchise has been here before. At halftime Sunday, the Chargers inducted kicker John Carney into their Hall of Fame. Back in 2000, a club that had lost its first 11 games finally won one, 17-16 over Kansas City, on Carney's 52-yarder, and the chatter about going 0-16 died with it. The last escape came off a kicker's leg, and this one doesn't need Herbert's body.

Harbaugh overruled his quarterback for the end of a blowout because the risk wasn't worth it. Nothing about the line changed between that moment and Baltimore. Make the same call for as long as that's still true.

Source: Los Angeles Times, retrieved November 9, 2026. Other sources: sports.yahoo.com, foxsports.com.