The modern sports lexicon has found new ways to describe excessive praise. Whether you call it glazing or Jim Harbaughing, the effect remains the same: Justin Herbert has become the subject of such towering expectations that even a dominant individual performance cannot shield him from scrutiny when his team falters.
Last weekend at SoFi Stadium, Herbert took the field as arguably the most talented quarterback on display. He left it having been thoroughly outplayed by Jacoby Brissett, a veteran journeyman bridge quarterback leading a Cardinals team that most observers had written off from playoff contention before the season began.
The Arizona Cardinals' 26-14 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week One punctured the bubble surrounding a franchise that had entered the campaign among the AFC's most exciting postseason contenders. The loss was quintessentially Chargers: a disjointed performance marred by mistakes and miscues that negated the influence of superior individual talent—a pattern that has defined this organisation in recent years.
Herbert's statistical line told part of the story. He completed 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception, with the latter coming on an ill-advised downfield throw into double coverage with ten minutes remaining and the Chargers trailing by nine points. According to Pro Football Focus, his Week One grade stood at 53.5, featuring zero big-time throws and one turnover-worthy play.
The opening drive suggested Herbert might orchestrate something special. He engineered an eight-play, 77-yard scoring march that included three completions for 60 yards to Ladd McConkey, the Chargers' emerging receiving talent. McConkey's touchdown catch came before the end of the third quarter, but a chest injury forced him from the field and deprived Herbert of his most reliable target.
What followed was a cascade of offensive futility. Across five possessions without McConkey, the Chargers managed a punt, three turnovers on downs and an interception. The offence failed to reach Arizona territory on four fourth-quarter drives. Compounding the dysfunction, Los Angeles committed six penalties overall, with five arriving in the second half and three consecutive flags on their penultimate series.
Head coach Jim Harbaugh had stoked the flames of expectation just days earlier, making a sweeping proclamation about his quarterback's ultimate legacy.
Allow me to call my shot, like Babe Ruth pointing his bat over to centerfield: Justin Herbert, when it's all said and done, when his career comes to an end, I predict he will be known as the greatest, best ever to play the position of quarterback. When it's all said and done, and his career is finished, we're going to look back and say, 'Yep, that's the best that ever did it.'
Harbaugh has become Herbert's most vocal and persistent advocate since arriving as head coach in 2024, repeatedly championing his quarterback's potential for greatness and seemingly willing his explosion into existence through sheer force of rhetoric. Yet such enlarged expectations carry a cost: they create a Hollywood fishbowl atmosphere where every misstep becomes magnified and every setback invites fresh questions about whether the hype has outpaced reality.
The timing of Harbaugh's prediction, delivered mere days before Herbert's underwhelming performance, only intensified the contrast between prophecy and execution. Is there such a thing as too much hype? The Week One result suggests the question deserves serious consideration.
The talent is undeniable, but results remain elusive
If you were to show an observer a highlight reel of the NFL's starting quarterbacks and ask them to identify which might be considered the best, most feared and most dangerous, many would point to Herbert. His prototype is almost dreamlike: ludicrous arm talent, a marauding ground presence, towering stature, fizzing needle-threading velocity and deep ball fireworks that few in the league can match.
Yet that same arsenal fuels much of the frustration surrounding his career. In his most successful moments, Herbert has been spectacular, a match for any defence in the league and one of football's most electrifying showcases. There has rarely been doubt over his skillset, but uncertainty swirls around both his killer instinct and his credentials among the elite play-callers in the NFL.
The statistical record through his first six seasons has been remarkable. Herbert's 24,820 passing yards rank second in NFL history behind only Peyton Manning through the same span, and he surpassed Manning for the most completions by a quarterback in his first six seasons. He also set the record for most consecutive 4,000-yard passing seasons with three straight from 2020 to 2022, accomplished while throwing to an elite receiving corps featuring Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Austin Ekeler.
The gradual departure of that trio has complicated matters. McConkey, Quentin Johnston and tight end David Njoku now represent his most recognised pass-catching targets, a significant step down in overall weaponry. Yet for all his aerial accomplishments, the statistic that matters most to Chargers fans remains playoff wins: currently zero from three postseason appearances.
Herbert has fallen in the Wild Card round in three of the last four years, including a catastrophic 2022 collapse against Jacksonville when the Chargers squandered a 27-0 lead, a 2024 performance against Houston that produced a career-worst 43.8 completion percentage and four interceptions, and a 2025 outing against New England in which he managed just 159 yards and no touchdowns while being sacked six times.
Offensive line woes and the McDaniel experiment
Part of the intrigue surrounding Herbert's 2026 campaign stems from the arrival of offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel, whose wizardry fell flat during a disappointing tenure as Miami Dolphins head coach but whose appointment has been widely tipped to unlock the best of his quarterback's exceptional arm talent.
McDaniel's Miami offence relied heavily on Tua Tagovailoa's quick-release passing concepts, heavy pre-snap motion and a dynamic rushing attack that gave his quarterback rhythm and timing. Herbert will be asked to stray from his comfort zone, adapting to a system built around different principles. The Chargers' official team website has suggested that Herbert's rapport with McDaniel will strengthen and deepen throughout the fall, giving the franchise time to frame his development as a work in progress rather than an immediate concern.
Yet the running game failed to materialise in Week One. Second-year back Omarion Hampton managed just 43 yards from 12 carries, averaging only 1.5 yards before contact behind an offensive line that surrendered three sacks. This represented a significant step backward from the previous two seasons under Greg Roman, whose run-heavy offence had restored stability to the Chargers' attack.
The offensive line issues extend beyond Week One. Herbert was sacked 54 times last season, the second-most in the league, while accumulating 225 sacks and 615 hits entering 2026—the most on any quarterback since his selection with the sixth overall pick in 2020. Both Pro Bowl left tackle Rashawn Slater and Pro Bowl right tackle Joe Alt returned to action last weekend after missing significant time through injury, yet interior weaknesses continued to surface.
Context and the road ahead
It bears noting that Week One results rarely define seasons. The Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots both lost their opening games last season before reaching the Super Bowl, while the heavily favoured Los Angeles Rams fell to the San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne without drawing premature obituaries. Seasons are not decided in Week One, but an unwelcome start has only amplified existing question marks around Herbert's ability to deliver in high-pressure moments.
According to the Chargers' official schedule, Los Angeles faces the Las Vegas Raiders at home on Sunday, September 20, 2026, offering an immediate opportunity for redemption. The franchise enters a favourable early stretch, with Buffalo arriving the following week on September 27, providing a chance to establish momentum before the schedule intensifies.
There is something to admire about Herbert's ability to become one of the league's prized faces without yet breaking through the glass ceiling. The AFC's quarterback arms race is brimming with talent, and football is urging him forward, willing him to thrust himself among the perennial frontrunners. The league knows he possesses the capability.
Yet performances like Sunday's should not be occurring. Year seven is underway, and the Justin Herbert story remains both captivating and impossible to forecast. The coming weeks will determine whether Harbaugh's bold prediction looks prescient or premature, and whether Herbert can finally translate individual brilliance into the postseason success that has eluded him throughout his career.
