Bolts From The Blue
Justin Herbert led a game-winning drive in the final minute of regulation to help put away the Bengals 34-27 on Sunday Night Football.
The Chargers built a 21-point lead early in the third quarter over the Bengals in what seemed about as one-sided of a game as you’ll have witnessed this season. But an old narrative started to creep its ugly head as the Los Angeles fan base watched — slowly but surely — as the Bolts defense allowed 21 unanswered points in the second half. They were “Chargering” or something at least adjacent to that.
With the score tied at 27-27, the Bengals got the chance to kick two field goals. Kicker Evan McPherson was wide left on both attempts. The latter miss came with 1:52 remaining in regulation which set up a perfect situation for the Chargers to go down, drain the clock, and finish with a walk-off field goal.
Oh, how Chargers fans wished it would have been that simple.
Herbert (17-of-36, 297 yards, 2 TDs) and the offense couldn’t move the ball an inch. They threw three incompletions and had to punt it right back. But the defense had one last, crucial stop left in the tank. When the Bolts got the ball back, they had 45 seconds left and two timeouts remaining.
Herbert linked up with Ladd McConkey twice on the drive for 55 yards to get them into field goal range almost immediately. Despite eyeing game-winning kick, J.K. Dobbins broke loose on a run up the middle and scooted 29 yards for the game-sealing score.
The Bengals had two attempts at a Hail Mary, but both fell incomplete.
On top of his nearly 300 passing yards, Herbert also rushed for 65 more yards, including a 30-yard scramble. Dobbins ended with just 55 yards but scored twice.
McConkey finished with a career-high 123 receiving yards while Quenton Johnston caught his sixth touchdown of the season.
Tuli Tuipulotu filled in admirably for Khalil Mack with 1.5 sacks and two tackles for loss. Daiyan Henley recorded 11 tackles to lead the team while Derwin James had 10 tackles with a half sack.
The Chargers are back at home next Monday night to host John Harbaugh and the Baltimore Ravens in another primetime matchup inside SoFi Stadium.
For a complete quarter-by-quarter recap of today’s game, check it out below.
The Chargers won the toss and chose to defer. The Bolts defense was up first.
A couple plays into the game, Joe Burrow hit wideout Jermaine Burton for a first down. At first replay, it looked as if he may have failed to get a second foot down. After further review, Burton dragged his back foot and the call of a completed catch was upheld. Less than a few minutes into the game, Harbaugh and the Chargers had already burned both a challenge and a timeout.
Luckily, the Bolts defense stepped up from there and forced a punt thanks to a pass breakup by Cam Hart...
