INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Justin Herbert was not supposed to keep the ball.
It was late in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Chargers’ 22-19 overtime win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night. The Chargers had the ball in Eagles territory. They trailed by three points, and at the 38-yard line, they were on the fringes of kicker Cameron Dicker’s range, three yards inside of his career long. The clock was ticking. Less than 40 seconds remained in regulation. The Chargers went no-huddle to get to the line of scrimmage quickly. Offensive coordinator Greg Roman called a simple inside-zone run to the left. Herbert understood the goal of the call, as he explained after the game: “Just to make sure that we’ve got the field goal in our pocket.”
Herbert set up in shotgun formation, with running back Kimani Vidal aligned to his right. He took the snap with 27 seconds remaining. As Herbert turned to hand off to Vidal, he saw Eagles edge rusher Jaelan Phillips explode through the Chargers’ front and into the backfield. Herbert, seven days removed from surgery on his left hand, let his instincts take over. He pulled the ball back, side-stepped to his right and took off into open turf, gaining more than 9 yards on the rush. Two plays later, Dicker drilled the tying field goal with eight seconds remaining.
Dicker has missed eight field goals in his NFL career, six from 50 or more yards. Herbert’s run turned the tying field-goal attempt from a 56-yarder into just over a 46-yarder.
There was no tag on the call from Roman. Herbert was supposed to hand the ball off. But he did not, and the Chargers are 9-4, and this inexplicable season rolls on with a victory over the defending Super Bowl champions.
“At the end of the day, we got to go make something happen,” Herbert told The Athletic of his game-changing fourth-quarter run. “You can draw it up one way, but you got to go make it happen.”
Bradley Bozeman was at center on the play. He saw Phillips and then linebacker Zack Baun crash down through the line of scrimmage. Bozeman turned his chest to the Eagles defenders to try to “wall” them off, as he described it, to create some separation for Vidal and avoid a negative play at the most inopportune time. As Phillips took down Vidal, Bozeman looked at his running back.
“Kimani doesn’t have the ball,” Bozeman remembers thinking. “What is going on?”
Bozeman looked downfield to see Herbert sliding down at the first-down marker.
“I looked over and he’s just …”
Bozeman made the sound of a race car zooming past a bystander.
“He’s an animal,” Bozeman said of his quarterback.
Herbert described the play as a “fast-break” decision. It was just one of several runs by Herbert in crucial moments of the game that helped make the difference.
And just a quick reminder, because it is important to keep this front of mind: Herbert had a metal plate and multiple screws inserted into his left hand seven days earlier.
On a first-and-10 on the tying field-goal drive, Herbert scrambled to his left for 7 yards, moving the Chargers to their own 44-yard line.
Three plays later, Herbert scrambled for a first down up the middle on a third-and-4, keeping the drive alive. At the end of that play, he was tripped up by Eagles edge rusher Nolan Smith, and planted his surgically repaired left hand on the ground to prevent his knee from touching.
On the next play, he went off-script and called his own number for the 9-plus yard gain.
“If you do that,” Herbert said. “You got to be right.”
The Chargers got the ball first in overtime. On the first play, Herbert kept the ball again to the right side, this time on a designed rush. As he approached the sideline and got past the first-down marker, Herbert stiff-armed Eagles safety Reed Blankenship to the turf. Yes, with that surgically repaired left hand.
with the left hand ???? pic.twitter.com/SThADcc1Mw
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) December 9, 2025
The stiff-arm happened right in front of the Chargers bench. Coach Jim Harbaugh admitted he was “wincing” as he watched his quarterback put his left hand in harm’s way.
“He’s a competitive maniac,” Harbaugh said. “It felt like we were in the movie where the quarterback is doing these (things). And it’s like, you get the point where you go, ‘OK, this is getting a little unrealistic.’ That’s what it felt like to me. He refuses to lose.”
Herbert added one more yard on a third-and-7 in overtime, giving him 33 yards on the Chargers’ final two drives and 66 total to lead the team on a night when nothing else was working offensively. Dicker then connected from 54 yards to put the Chargers ahead 22-19.
Seven. Days. After. Surgery.
Said edge rusher Khalil Mack: “Who else in the league is doing that?”
Herbert even playing in this game galvanized the entire team, including a Chargers defense that intercepted Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts four times, including the game-sealing pick from safety Tony Jefferson in overtime.
PICKED! CHARGERS WIN! pic.twitter.com/dJsl8Ilk7O
— NFL (@NFL) December 9, 2025
Cornerback Donte Jackson, who had an interception in the second quarter, remembers last week when there was uncertainty over whether Herbert would play. The Chargers beat the Las Vegas Raiders last Sunday. Herbert broke his hand on the first drive of that game, leaving briefly before returning. Players got the next two days off after the Raiders win, with Herbert undergoing surgery on Monday. Since players were not in the building, Jackson was relying on the media for his information. And all he saw were headlines: “Justin Herbert undergoes surgery.”
Jackson walked into the facility Wednesday morning expecting the worst.
“You’re coming in with the mindset of, ‘Hey, man, 10, praying for you,’” Jackson said.
Then he got one look at Herbert.
“This dude just got that look in his eye, like, ‘Bro, I’m good. I’ll be up. I’mma be straight,’” Jackson said. “You just see that mentality, so it just makes you look yourself in the mirror and think, ‘Man, I got to go and give everything, because this dude is just not missing a beat.’
“We just fed off that, man.”
Hurts’ interceptions were essential to keeping the Chargers in the game. Defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand came down with the first one in the second quarter, baiting Hurts into a poor decision over the middle of the field. Hand fumbled on the return and Hurts recovered, but then fumbled himself, his second turnover of the play. Linebacker Troy Dye recovered.
The teams combined for 10 total fumbles and interceptions. Herbert threw one of those interceptions late in the first half when his arm was hit. He also fumbled twice, clearly struggling with his ball security because of his injured left hand.
“This was definitely a strange game,” Mack said.
Jackson had the second interception, also over the middle in the second quarter. Cornerback Cam Hart had the third off a drop from Eagles receiver A.J. Brown in the fourth quarter. Then in overtime, the Eagles were in field goal range, trailing by three points. Hurts rolled to his right off play action. He tried to hit receiver Jahan Dotson on an out-breaking route. Hart jumped into the lane and tipped the pass. Jefferson hauled in the deflection.
“We knew we had to just be tight, and he was going to give us some opportunities,” Jackson said of Hurts.
“The defense kept giving us shots,” Bozeman said.
And eventually, Herbert broke through.
Herbert took 13 hits in the game, including seven sacks. The protection was horrid. In the rare moments it held up, no receivers were open. The rushing attack was inconsistent. By the end of the game, Herbert’s legs were the only thing the Chargers offense could rely on.
Herbert understood that. So he kept the ball when the game was in the balance.
“He just f—ing pulled it,” Bozeman said, incredulous.
And Herbert ran. Nine yards to glory. Surgically repaired left hand swinging by his side. The ball in his arm, and his offense on his shoulders.
