The Los Angeles Chargers surprised a lot of NFL fans on Friday night when they took down the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Brazil, 27-21. The Chargers defense played a stellar game against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs' offense in this one, but Justin Herbert was unquestionably the star of the show.
The star quarterback got his 2025 season off with one of the best individual games across the NFL in Week 1, finishing with 318 yards and three passing touchdowns on 25-of-34 passing. He also recorded 32 rushing yards on seven carries, and those ended up being some of the biggest plays of the game.
One standout run from Herbert was his 19-yard scramble on the final drive, picking up a third-and-14 with just over two minutes to go and allowing Los Angeles to kneel the clock out following the two-minute warning.
It was the type of play that NFL fans have become so used to seeing Mahomes pull off to seal games for the Chiefs, and that didn't go unnoticed by Chargers offensive coordinator Greg Roman.
“It demoralizes the defense,” Roman said, via Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. “They had great coverage, then all of a sudden, Oh man, another first down. And it was so cool to beat the Chiefs with that, too. Mahomes does that to everybody. It’s a vital asset.”
Herbert started to scramble more often last season in his first year working with Roman and Jim Harbaugh, and that was on display once again in Week 1. He ran the ball a lot during his college days at Oregon, and now Roman is clearly trying to make that a part of his NFL repertoire as well.
All of the best quarterbacks in the NFL nowadays make things happen with their legs: Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Mahomes and even Joe Burrow. Herbert is among that group and is now starting to hurt defenses with his scrambling like those four all do.
“Last year, when he got his feet involved, great things happened,” Roman said. “We scored a lot of points and won those games—Denver, Cincinnati. … It’s as we continue to just be the winningest group we can be on offense, that’s something that we just need to get more out of him.”
Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is notorious for being one of the hardest defensive coordinators to solve in football, but even he had no answers for Herbert in the season opener. That is a great sign for Chargers fans heading into Week 2.
