Chargers’ offense fizzles in AFC wild-card loss to Patriots

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The looks were all so familiar after the Chargers’ 16-3 loss Sunday night to the New England Patriots in an AFC wild-card playoff game at Gillette Stadium. There were plenty of thousand-mile stares around the locker room. Many others had their heads down, seeking answers.

The words were the same, too.

“It wasn’t good enough,” was the most common refrain.

“We just didn’t execute,” was another.

“We didn’t get it done,” was one more.

The Chargers had their chances to win their first playoff game since Jan. 6, 2019.

Their defense gave them plenty of them with an interception, a fumble recovery and a steady dose of pressure that made quarterback Drake Maye look somewhat less than a leading MVP candidate until he threw a game-clinching, fourth-quarter touchdown pass to tight end Hunter Henry.

As time ticked down, the question was whether the Chargers’ offense would finally come to life? The game was there for the taking. Or so it seemed. All quarterback Justin Herbert had to do was reach out and grab it and make it his and settle any questions about his past playoff failures.

In the end, the answer was a resounding no.

The seventh-seeded Chargers exited the playoffs in the wild-card round for the second consecutive season and for the third time in four years. The second-seeded Patriots await the winner of Monday night’s game between the fourth-seeded Pittsburgh Steelers and the fifth-seeded Houston Texans.

Herbert completed 19 of 31 passes for 159 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. He was sacked six times. He was hit and fumbled twice, losing one. He fell to 0-3 in the playoffs, and shook his head wistfully when asked how he might begin to process his latest postseason defeat.

“I don’t know,” Herbert said. “I haven’t figured it out yet.”

Herbert dismissed any notion that his fractured left, non-throwing hand was a factor in Sunday’s game. He praised the Chargers’ medical staff for preparing him to play after he was injured in the first quarter of their victory Nov. 30 over the Las Vegas Raiders and underwent surgery the next day.

Left tackle Trey Pipkins III said he needed to look at the game film to assess how he and the Chargers’ offensive line played against a Patriots defense that wasn’t known for its pass rush but still chased Herbert from the pocket again and again. Herbert rushed for a team-leading 57 yards on 10 carries.

“I’m not even sure what all was going wrong,” Pipkins said. “Without seeing the film, I’m not really sure.”

In the final analysis, the Chargers’ offense showed no new wrinkles and lacked creativity, especially when it mattered most and the game was on the line. The Chargers’ defense kept them in the game, giving up only three field goals until Maye’s touchdown pass made it 16-3 with 9:45 remaining.

Asked point blank if Greg Roman, the Chargers’ offensive coordinator the past two seasons, was the right man for the job, Coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t hesitate. Harbaugh also didn’t provide an endorsement for Roman, a longtime NFL assistant he brought along when he was hired in 2024.

“Right now, I don’t have an answer,” Harbaugh said. “We’re going to look at that and everything. It really falls on me. We weren’t at our best (Sunday). I don’t have the answers. I wish I did. We’re going to look at everything. We weren’t good enough as a team. We win as a team and we lose as a team.”

Linebacker Daiyan Henley’s interception of a tipped Maye pass set up the Chargers at the Patriots’ 10-yard line in the first quarter. But then Herbert’s pass intended for Keenan Allen on 4th-and-goal at the 2 sailed over the well-covered wide receiver’s head and the Patriots took over on downs.

New England then drove for the first score of the game, a 23-yard field goal by Andy Borregales with 13:32 left in the half. Maye got the Patriots out of the shadow of their own end zone with a 48-yard pass play to running back Rhamondre Stevenson, his only completion of note in the half.

The Chargers countered with Cameron Dicker’s 21-yard field goal, but those were the only points they would score. Borregales kicked field goals of 35 and 39 yards, and New England led, 9-3, entering the fourth quarter, a manageable deficit had the Chargers’ offense been functioning.

“The most frustrating part about how this all ended is it just comes down to feeling like you have to give more, feeling like you didn’t do enough,” Henley said. “I think that’s what it comes down to. For me, for the defense, the offense, the special teams, we all have that bad taste in our mouths.”