Chargers QB Justin Herbert Fires Back at Haters After Rams Loss

Justin Herbert didn’t know anything about it, and he didn’t seem to care, either.

Rams safety Quentin Lake went on a podcast earlier this week to criticize Herbert’s play during this past Sunday’s game, when Herbert threw two interceptions in the Chargers’ 24-9 loss.

Lake had one of the interceptions, a poorly thrown pass intended for tight end Charlie Kolar.

“I mean, he was throwing deli meat out there,” Lake said.

“He’s seeing ghosts.”

Herbert responded with a shrug.

“I haven’t looked into it, I haven’t heard anything about it,” he said.

No question, Herbert’s season isn’t going as planned.

He hasn’t excelled in offensive coordinator Mike McDaniel’s offense.

The Chargers (0-7) are winless going into next Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans (2-5).

Herbert has twice as many interceptions (10) as touchdown passes (five).

Herbert said he hasn’t changed his usual routine simply because things aren’t going well.

He still enjoys a life dominated by football.

He said he arrives at the Chargers’ practice facility early and leaves late.

There’s little time for anything but practicing and watching videos.

Football videos, that is.

“I think I have the greatest job in the world,” he said.

“I get paid to play football, and it is the best job in the world.

I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world to be able to play football in Southern California with this team and with this group of guys.

I love football and doing what I do.”

For the record, Herbert signed a five-year contract extension in 2023 potentially worth $262.5 million of which $133.7 million is fully guaranteed, per the website overthecap.com.

His team-high base salary of $24 million for this season is more than twice as high as the next highest salary.

“I have the greatest job in the world,” Herbert repeated.

Having the type of unproductive, uncharacteristic season Herbert is having is certain to invite criticism, however.

Not that he’s paid any attention to it, but there’s been chatter that McDaniel has ruined Herbert, that the Chargers should trade Herbert, that his career has stalled.

“We’re just focused on what’s going on in this building, playing football and doing all we can and doing our best to go and put our best effort,” Herbert said when asked again about the critical comments of an NFL peer.

“That’s all that matters and anything outside of that is out of our control.”

Naturally, McDaniel defended Herbert, who has completed 61.8% of his passes, on track for a career low.

It’s one thing to get criticized by a reporter or a talking head on a studio show.

It’s another thing entirely when the shots come from inside the building — from other NFL players who know the game well enough to make it sting.

That’s exactly what quarterback Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers found themselves navigating recently, after Quinnen Lake went on a podcast and said, bluntly, that Herbert is “seeing ghosts out there.”

Lake reportedly suggested that other players around the league are laughing at the situation and can’t make sense of what’s happening with the Chargers’ offense.

Peer ridicule in professional sports carries a different weight than media criticism — it comes with credibility, with insider knowledge, and with the implicit message that your peers have already rendered their verdict.

So how do Herbert and the Chargers handle it?

Short answer: they don’t engage with it at all.

When Herbert was asked directly about Lake’s comments, he said he hadn’t even heard them.

“Haven’t looked into it.

Haven’t heard anything about it.

So I can’t really make a comment about it,” Herbert said.

That could sound evasive, but Herbert followed it with something more revealing — a clear articulation of the team’s internal philosophy.

“We’re really just focused on what’s going on in this building and playing football, and doing what we can, and doing our best to put our best effort out on Sunday,” Herbert said.

“That’s all that really matters.

Anything outside of that is out of our control.”

The Chargers’ coach had a similarly measured response when the Lake comments came up earlier in the press conference.

Asked directly whether he sees Herbert struggling with the ghosts that Lake described, head coach Jim Harbaugh didn’t flinch.

“As far as anybody’s opinion, I don’t see that.

Everybody’s entitled to their opinion.

It’s not what I see,” Harbaugh said.

Building a cultural wall around the facility is one of the most underrated forms of team maintenance.

When a franchise is struggling offensively, the last thing the quarterback needs is to be processing real-time ridicule from peers while also processing a defensive blitz.

The strategy requires genuine psychological discipline.

It means resisting the natural human urge to respond and defend.

The Los Angeles Chargers took a gamble this offseason.

By bringing in Mike McDaniel, they moved away from the formula that had led the team to solid regular season finishes, but no playoff success, in the first two seasons under Jim Harbaugh.

It was reasonable to think that Greg Roman had to go — although his scheme played into Justin Herbert’s strengths, his ability to dial up complex and consistently dynamic routes for the team’s receivers simply wasn’t high enough to expect anything other than a middling offense out of him, even with solid protection.

The bet was that McDaniel’s West Coast-style scheme could provide that.