Chargers lose QB Justin Herbert to injury, game to Steelers

PITTSBURGH — Justin Herbert limped into the postgame interview room Sunday with his sprained right ankle encased in a cumbersome walking boot. His matted golden-brown hair tumbled out from beneath a Chargers baseball cap. He wore a look of defeat, of disappointment, of resignation on his face.

Herbert did all he could to lift the Chargers with his passing, with his smarts, with his guile, but his ankle was too bruised and battered to complete his mission. He exited the Chargers’ 20-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers after three quarters, yielding to Coach Jim Harbaugh’s demand that he stop.

There is another game next Sunday, after all.

The Chargers play host to the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs.

Harbaugh called Herbert “a beast” simply for attempting to play, and for playing well enough in the first half that the Chargers led 10-7 after he completed nine consecutive passes with a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Quentin Johnston to start the game and 12 of 16 by halftime.

“Our plan was the first sign of any kind of a limp he was coming out of the game,” Harbaugh said of Herbert, who was injured on a third-down scramble during the Chargers’ victory Sept. 15 over the Carolina Panthers. “So, I took him out. I knew Justin wasn’t going to take himself out.”

Safety Derwin James Jr. said Herbert’s mere presence in the starting lineup gave the Chargers (2-1) an emotional lift before facing the Steelers (3-0), and when Herbert departed after three quarters, they lost their way and Pittsburgh took control when the game was on the line and it mattered most.

“I told him in the shower just now, ‘Man, I appreciate you just going out there,’” James said of a postgame conversation with Herbert. “He was 40% today, maybe 35%. He didn’t feel all the way 100%, but for him to go out there and give us a chance, we respect that as a team. He gave us everything he had on one leg.”

Herbert later acknowledged that a lengthy activation process before the game likely led to his fast start. Long before the gates to the public opened, he went through an extensive series of pregame stretching exercises, followed by a number of sprints, followed by his customary passing drills.

There was no chance to repeat that extended warmup during the halftime break, which likely contributed to his lackluster performance in the third quarter. He misfired on both of his third-quarter attempts and the Chargers were tied 10-10 going into the fourth after Chris Boswell’s 38-yard field goal.

What’s more, Herbert took a couple of hard hits, including a sack for a 9-yard loss on a first-and-10 play from his own 34-yard line. Two short runs by J.K. Dobbins then brought up a fourth-and-14 from the 30 and JK Scott entered the game to punt the ball away to the Steelers.

“I did everything I could to go back in there, but I didn’t feel like I could move around or push off of it, so the decision was made,” Herbert said. “It had been getting sore up until that point (the first down sack). I can’t remember exactly what happened, but it must have gotten twisted up again.

“I stood back up and realized I couldn’t move too great off of it.”

Boswell’s 30-yard field goal on the Steelers’ ensuing possession gave Pittsburgh a 13-10 lead, and Taylor Heinicke replaced Herbert for the Chargers’ first series of the fourth quarter. It didn’t go well. They got as far as the Steelers’ 49, but T.J. Watt sacked Heinicke for an 8-yard loss on third-and-5.

Pittsburgh quarterback Justin Fields sealed the deal with a 55-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Calvin Austin with 7:02 remaining in the game, with the Chargers clearly deflated by then. Fields completed 25 of 32 passes for 245 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

The unanswered question by game’s end was whether Herbert would be along for the ride, whether he could rest and rehabilitate his sprained ankle in time to be effective against the Chiefs in an AFC West showdown next Sunday at SoFi Stadium. Or whether the Chargers would be shorthanded.