Justin Herbert and his Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Arizona Cardinals in the 15-17 Monday Night Football loss. For many folks, it was painful to watch. After all, how could a quarterback who threw for 349 yards on 27-of-39 passing stand defeated? Whatever the answer to that question is, Herbert made sure to take accountability for the loss. A big mistake happened on the 3 and fourth play in the last quarter of the game. Herbert had some pressure coming towards him and he decided to chuck the ball where there was no receiver. Was it his fault that no receiver was there to pick the ball up? Herbert says yes!

Alex Insdorf of the Chargers Wire for USA Today took to X and shared a post writing, “Chargers QB Justin Herbert blames himself on throwing the ball away uncatchable on the Max Melton flag that the refs picked up: ‘I gotta do a better job of putting it on him.’”

While this mistake might be considered Justin Herbert’s fault, there was a play that happened in the first quarter that got the Chargers fans fuming. That many demanded Jim Harbaugh get a bunch of new wide receivers because the team is struggling with their WRs right now.

Herbert lobbed a deep pass to Jalen Reagor in the first quarter as approximately 7:30 remained on the clock. The receiver reeled the ball in just for an Arizona Cardinals defender to knock it off his hands. It was so painful to watch because Reagor was just outside the endzone and if he had advanced two more steps with the ball, it would have been a touchdown.

It should have been a touchdown!

Then, even Ladd McConkey had two drops. Hence, the receivers gathered in the locker room following the game to discuss their performance. Players agreed that they needed to play better. No doubt, the majority of the fans harbor a sentiment that Herbert shouldn’t be taking the blame for the loss against the Cardinals tonight. After this loss to the Arizona Cardinals, the Chargers have now slipped to 3-3. However, Jim Harbaugh isn’t deterred.

Jim Harbaugh has a timeless message after the heartbreaking loss…

Harbaugh’s quarterback didn’t throw a touchdown tonight. In fact, none of the Chargers scored a touchdown tonight. In other words, Cameron Dicker was the hero of the game for scoring 5 field goals.

What’s even more astonishing is the fact that the Chargers remained scoreless in the first quarter of the game. If Reagor didn’t miss that touchdown pass from Herbert, the story could have been different.

But for Jim Harbaugh, this loss is a learning curve. He brought up the infamous message from Nelson Mandela that reflected the Chargers’ mentality going forward into the season. What did he say?

“Nelson Mandela said, ‘I don’t lose. I either win or I learn.’ And to me what that means is, make sure we learn from things that happen and let that make us better as opposed to any kind of deflecting,” Harbaugh said in response to the loss.

The MNF was a Harbaugh Bowl in the sense that the Harbaugh brothers didn’t play each other, but both were competing for a win. One brother won the Monday night game with his Ravens and the other one lost the MNF. Definitely sounds like déjà vu in a parallel universe, don’t you think?