Justin Herbert struggles, suffers injury as winless Chargers lose to Texans

In the wildly unpredictable NFL, the Chargers have emerged as a rare sure bet.

They’re going to play. And they’re going to lose.

It happened again Sunday when they fell at home to Houston, 44-22, in their most lopsided loss of the season. Before a half-filled SoFi Stadium, where secondary-market ticket prices dipped below $15, the Chargers dropped to 0-8.

Dating to last season, they have lost 11 in a row, which ties a club record. They did reach the end zone for the first time in a month, however, ending a drought that lasted 37 consecutive possessions without a touchdown.

🏈 Texans 44, Chargers 22 — FINAL

Another woeful offensive performance coupled with an inability to stop Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud resulted in the Chargers losing to fall to 0-8 on the season.

Stroud completed 21 of 35 passes for 384 yards, with five touchdowns and one interception for a Texans team that amassed 487 total yards of offense.

Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was sacked eight times behind his injury-riddled offensive line. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 193 yards and a touchdown.

Herbert suffered an apparent injury to the middle finger on his left hand in the second half and didn’t play most of the fourth quarter with the game out of reach.

The Chargers did score two touchdowns in the second half, ending a streak of 37 consecutive possessions without finding the end zone.

The Chargers have lost 11 straight dating back to last season.

🏈 Texans 41, Chargers 22 — 4:19 left in the fourth quarter

Chargers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei connected on a 15-yard touchdown pass to Derius Davis to cut into the Texans’ lead late in the fourth quarter.

It was Uiagalelei’s first career touchdown pass.

The touchdown capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive for the Chargers.

🏈 Texans 41, Chargers 15 — 7:30 left in the fourth quarter

With the game out of reach and Justin Herbert dealing with an apparent injury to the middle finger on his left hand, backup DJ Uiagalelei took over at quarterback for the Chargers.

Herbert was still standing on the sideline with his helmet on, wearing a protective glove on his hand.

🏈 Texans 41, Chargers 15 — 8:50 left in the fourth quarter

Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 31-yard field goal to extend Houston’s lead after an eight-play, 62-yard drive.

A 32-yard reception by Tank Dell moved the ball into Chargers territory to help set up the field goal.

🏈 Texans 38, Chargers 15 — 12:47 left in the fourth quarter

The Chargers’ streak of 37 possessions without a touchdown is over.

Quentin Johnston caught a short pass from Justin Herbert and broke free for a 58-yard touchdown reception, giving the Chargers their first trip to the end zone since the third quarter of their Oct. 11 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Herbert appears to be battling an injury to a finger on his left hand. After the touchdown, trainers were examining his hand.

🏈 Texans 31, Chargers 9 — 8:16 left in the third quarter

Texans wide receiver Nico Collins made a spectacular, one-armed touchdown catch while jumping backward in tight coverage for a 13-yard score. It was C.J. Stroud’s fourth touchdown pass of the game.

The 10-play, 80-yard drive included a 28-yard reception by tight end Dalton Schultz and a 15-yard catch by Kayshon Boutte.

Stroud has completed 18 of 30 passes for 286 yards.

Chargers wide receiver Tre’ Harris returned to the game after exiting briefly with an apparent leg injury.

🏈 Texans 24, Chargers 9 — 12:24 left in the third quarter

Texans cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. picked off a deep pass from Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert on third down on the first possession of the second half.

The Chargers moved 13 yards on the drive before Herbert was sacked for the fifth time. Three plays later, Herbert threw his 11th pick of the season.

To make matters worse, wide receiver Tre’ Harris sustained an apparent left leg injury while jumping for a pass. He went to the locker room under his own power.

🏈 Texans 24, Chargers 9 — HALFTIME

Kayshon Boutte caught a 12-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Stroud late in the second quarter to extend the Texans’ lead before halftime.

A 35-yard reception by Boutte set up the touchdown pass, which capped a seven-play, 76-yard drive.

Justin Herbert was sacked four times in the first half, with Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins sacking him on third down on the Chargers’ final two possessions before halftime.

A muffed punt by Houston’s Tank Dell late in the first half nearly resulted in a Chargers recovery, but Dell was able to get back to the loose ball, thwarting a would-be L.A. possession deep in Texans territory.

The Chargers have not scored a touchdown in their last 34 possessions — a streak stretching back to their Oct. 11 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Herbert has completed nine of 17 passes for 63 yards. The Chargers have just 98 total yards and were three for 10 on third downs.

Stroud has completed 15 of 24 passes for 230 yards with three touchdowns and an interception.

🏈 Texans 17, Chargers 9 — 4:28 left in the second quarter

Texans wide receiver Tank Dell made a stretching grab on a pass by C.J. Stroud, then broke away from coverage to score on a 63-yard catch and extend Houston’s lead.

The pass came on the second play of the drive and puts more pressure on Justin Herbert and the Chargers to break their weeks-long touchdown drought.

🏈 Texans 10, Chargers 9 — 5:11 left in the second quarter

Cameron Dicker kicked his third field goal of the game, this time from 43 yards out, to make it one-point game in the second quarter.

An interception by Daiyan Henley put the ball back into Justin Herbert’s hands. But the Chargers couldn’t achieve much, with Keaton Mitchell carrying the ball 11 yards and Kimani Vidal catching a six-yard pass before the field goal.

🏈 Texans 10, Chargers 6 — 8:13 left in the second quarter

Cameron Dicker kicked a 33-yard field goal as the first good-looking drive by the Chargers in weeks sputtered in the red zone.

The Chargers failed to score despite achieving first and goal from the Texans’ 9-yard line. They have failed to find the end zone in 30 consecutive possessions dating back their Oct. 11 loss to the Denver Broncos.

Texans safety Jalen Pitre delivered a big hit on receiver Tre’ Harris on third down, resulting in a seven-yard loss and bringing the Chargers’ nine-play, 36-yard drive to a halt.

No penalty was called on Pitre on the play despite making helmet-to-helmet contact.

🏈 Texans 10, Chargers 3 — 3:12 left in the first quarter

Ka’imi Fairbairn kicked a 56-yard field goal to cap an eight-play, 26-yard drive for Houston.

The Chargers defense held Houston in check after the Texans sliced through it on their first possession. A 12-yard run by quarterback C.J. Stroud was the biggest play of the drive.

🏈 Texans 7, Chargers 3 — 6:14 left in the first quarter

The Chargers’ touchdown drought continues, but they didn’t come away empty-handed on their first possession.

Cameron Dicker kicked a 52-yard field goal to cap a nine-play, 34-yard drive for the Chargers that included a 10-yard reception by Tre’ Harris.

The Chargers are still looking for their first touchdown since Oct. 11.

🏈 Texans 7, Chargers 0 — 10:16 left in the first quarter

C.J. Stroud connected on a 17-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Xavier Hutchinson on Houston’s opening possession.

The drive capped an efficient, eight-play, 73-yard drive.

The Chargers will look to respond, but will have to do so without Ladd McConkey, who is not playing after experiencing back spasms before the game. His is questionable to play.

Rams safety Quentin Lake says he texted Justin Herbert to apologize for comments he made about the Chargers quarterback on a podcast earlier this week.

So far, Lake said Friday afternoon, he hasn’t heard back.

“I don’t know if he read it,” Lake told The Times. “He probably says, ‘I don’t care about it anymore. I’m not trying to see this. It doesn’t matter. You said what you said.’ But at the same time I … felt like it was right for me to at least say,’ Hey, man, I didn’t mean it in any disrespectful way.’”

Mike McDaniel is shifting his perspective in an attempt to revive the Chargers’ dead offense.

Although he usually operates on the sideline and behind the line of scrimmage during games, the offensive coordinator said he’ll call plays from the SoFi Stadium coaches’ box during Sunday’s matchup against the Houston Texans.

Here are the players who will not be suiting up for the Chargers and Houston Texans on Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

This is not the perfect spiral the Chargers were expecting. It’s a downward one. Week after week, loss after loss.

They are 0-6 for the first time since 2000, back when Jim Harbaugh was one of their quarterbacks, not their head coach. So even though they’re rested after a week off, they’re also on edge heading into Sunday’s game against the Rams.

On the outside, speculation has been swirling for weeks about what the sinking franchise can do — not so much to stop its current slide, as the season is already shot, but moving forward beyond this year. So far, the switch to Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator has been disastrous, and there’s even conjecture the team could look to trade quarterback Justin Herbert, who has gone eight consecutive games with at least as many interceptions as touchdowns in each.

Prediction columns are silly.

If you want to guarantee something won’t happen, go ahead and predict — as Bill Plaschke did — that the Rams are going to go undefeated.

See, what happened was that his crystal ball was misfiring. Kind of like Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert has this season, throwing an interception in every game so far.

Actually, it’s Herbert’s Chargers who are going to go 0-17.

Heading into the season, the Chargers might have circled Sunday’s game against Houston on their calendar. This was the chance to take down the Texans, who knocked them out of the playoffs in 2024 then beat them again last season.

The conversation is markedly different now.

It’s Week 9, maybe the Chargers can finally win a game.