When you suit up as quarterback for the Chargers, you're not just facing the team across the field. You're facing down an entire franchise history of misplays, miscues, mistakes and misfires. The Chargers have come up with more creative ways to lose than pretty much any franchise in the NFL, if not in all of sports, and though the names change, the futility remains.
Justin Herbert is the latest in a long line of Charger quarterbacks, and for one afternoon at least, he stiff-armed the can't-get-it-done narrative. In one of the few Week 13 games with playoff implications for both teams, Herbert led the Chargers to a convincing 41-22 victory over the previously surging Cincinnati Bengals.