By Chad Graff, Daniel Popper and RJ Kraft
Powered by the connection of quarterback Justin Herbert and rookie Ladd McConkey, the Los Angeles Chargers are going to the playoffs in Jim Harbaugh’s first year as head coach following a 40-7 win over the New England Patriots.
Herbert tossed three touchdowns and threw for 281 yards, while McConkey totaled eight receptions for 94 yards and two TDs. Additionally, McConkey broke Keenan Allen’s franchise rookie season receiving records (of 71 catches and 1,046 yards) with his performance — the Georgia product is now at 77 catches, 1,054 yards and seven TDs for the season.
With their playoff spot secured, the Chargers (10-6) can turn their attention to the team’s seeding in the AFC playoff picture. Los Angeles currently holds the No. 6 seed but could slide up to the No. 5 seed with a Week 18 win over the Las Vegas Raiders and a loss by the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Patriots rookie quarterback Drake Maye left the game for one series in the first quarter with a head injury but returned for the remainder of the game. He was under consistent pressure all day and was sacked four times. Running back Rhamondre Stevenson had only two carries a week after his seventh fumble of the year.
With New England’s record now at 3-13, the Patriots are still in the mix for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. In Week 18, the Patriots play the Buffalo Bills.
GO DEEPER
Why the Patriots could control the 2025 NFL Draft if they land the No. 2 pick
Resounding win for the Chargers
The Chargers clinched a playoff berth in Harbaugh’s first season — a year after they won only five games. They did it in as convincing a fashion as possible, dominating New England for four quarters. Herbert led the way through the air with McConkey serving as his top target.
Herbert to Ladd McConkey for the 40-yard TOUCHDOWN.
📺: #LACvsNE on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/YDRjYmV4e9— NFL (@NFL) December 28, 2024
J.K. Dobbins returned after a four-game absence and provided a boost in the run game. Dobbins had 19 rushes for 76 yards a touchdown. It was the Chargers’ most complete performance of the season on offense. They scored a season-high 40 points on that side of the ball.
The key was winning at the line of scrimmage. The Chargers mostly kept Herbert clean, who then had time to attack and carve up a porous Patriots defense. New England had no answer for McConkey. Six different Chargers had at least 20 receiving yards. The Chargers also got consistent push in the run game. They converted 10 third downs in the game. — Daniel Popper, Chargers beat writer
L.A.’s defense smothers Maye
Defensively, the Chargers were all over Maye. Derwin James had two sacks, setting a new career high with 5.5 sacks on the season. Khalil Mack had a sack and two quarterback hits. Joey Bosa and Tuli Tuipulotu also rushed well. The Chargers forced one turnover and also had three fourth-down stops. The Patriots only converted two third downs on 10 tries. Both of those came with the game well out of reach. New England was held under 150 total yards until the final drive of the game. The Chargers were suffocating. And they would have had a shot for the shutout if not for a free-play touchdown late in the first half.
All season, the Chargers beat up on bad teams on defense. It was one of the reasons they were in this position late in the season, with a chance to clinch and they handled business again against a miserable Patriots team. — Popper
GO DEEPER
Russini’s what I’m hearing: Vikings want Darnold back in 2025, Watson’s new deal, Brady’s big role
Is Jerod Mayo on the hot seat?
For weeks, the signal from the highest level of the Patriots organization was that everyone wanted coach Jerod Mayo to stick around. He had been Robert Kraft’s hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick and the organization wanted it to work out. As long as the Patriots didn’t fall apart to close the season, the message was that Mayo would return for a second year.
However, they have fallen apart. In the Patriots’ three games since the bye, they’ve gotten blown out by the Arizona Cardinals, blew a 14-point lead in a loss to the Bills and got blown out at home by the Chargers. They’re even worse than the bad team they began the season as and can’t clear the extremely low bar they’ve built for themselves. They’ve lost six straight games, haven’t scored more than 25 points all season, and each week seems to bring a new embarrassment.
Even if the plan had been to return Mayo, that intention needs to now be re-considered, especially since Patriots Hall of Famer Mike Vrabel is available. — Chad Graff, Patriots beat writer
Woes on every front for New England
It’s hard to know which side of the ball is worse for the Patriots, and at this point it doesn’t really matter. It’s all bad. The defense allowed a team to score 30-plus points for the sixth time this season. Meanwhile, the Patriots have gone 44 straight games without scoring 30-plus points.
Offensively, Maye has some nice moments but the whole group is disjointed because the offensive line is probably the worst group in the NFL and the wide receivers are too. Defensively, the Patriots returned pretty much everyone from a group that was top 10 in about every category last season and is now bottom 10 in about every category. — Graff
Up-close reminder for Patriots of the receiver not taken
As if the Patriots needed anything else to go poorly, McConkey came to Foxboro and schooled the team that didn’t want to draft him — another reminder of how bad New England’s first draft in the post-Belichick era has been. The Patriots wanted a wide receiver in the second round of April’s draft, but didn’t feel McConkey was right for their team because he’s mostly a slot receiver and they felt they had better depth in the slot than the outside.
So they traded the pick to the Chargers, who took McConkey, while the Pats used the picks received from Los Angeles for receivers Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker. And on Saturday against the Patriots, McConkey outproduced the season totals of both Patriots rookie receivers. McConkey put up 94 yards and two touchdowns against the Patriots while Polk and Baker again went without a reception leaving them with 87 yards on the entire season. — Graff
Required reading
(Photo: Winslow Townson / Getty Images)
