Jim Harbaugh tells Justin Herbert to 'be better' amid Chargers' offensive struggles

Harbaugh knows his team's current situation starts with getting more out of the quarterback position

Sep 29, 2026 at 12:30 pm ET • 2 min read

The winless Los Angeles Chargers are in offensive despair, and Jim Harbaugh is finally beginning to put the onus on his quarterback. 

The offense needs more from Justin Herbert, and if he doesn't improve soon, Harbaugh's seat will move from warm to hot this season. A week after Harbaugh said he "wouldn't change a thing about Justin," criticism of his quarterback's early-season play was a bit more direct following Sunday's 24-16 loss to the Buffalo Bills.

"Be better. Be better," Harbaugh said of Herbert's play. "And that drives Justin, that drives me, that drives his position coach, that drives Mike (McDaniel), the coordinator. I mean, drives us all."

Three games into Mike McDaniel's stint as the Chargers' offensive coordinator, Herbert doesn't look comfortable. His QBR (27.4) is 29th in the league with a career-low 59.1% completion rate, and he's thrown at least one interception in every start.

Stalled drives and a lack of execution have kept the Chargers from being explosive, and Herbert hasn't flexed his arm strength downfield since the offense can't stay on schedule.

It's especially frustrating for Harbaugh after he saw his defense force five turnovers last time out. Herbert's lone interception came in the end zone to nullify a red zone possession, but it was a microcosm of a unit that's been a step late this season.

Herbert said he was unsure why the Chargers' offense is stuck in reverse.

"That's a great question," Herbert said, via ESPN. "That's something that we have to figure out, and we're going to do our best to keep listening to our coaching and do everything we can to stick together and understand that it's a long season and we gotta turn our stuff around. So whatever the reason is, we have to find a way to fix it."

What's going wrong

Former Chargers defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko wrote on "X" after the team's Week 3 loss that the offensive personnel has been so "poorly constructed" around its quarterback in the past that Herbert feels like he needs to press this season instead of simply executing what's called.

Even with talent, however, Sunday's faulty execution was the culprit in scoring only 16 points. Three drops nullified big gains, and five penalties in the third quarter were critically deflating.

Harbaugh's messaging is often flat and offers very few details about his organization, but it's clear now that he's aiming to motivate his quarterback and offensive personnel around him to fix things at a crucial junction. 

The Chargers' next four games will be a challenge against the Seahawks (2-1), Broncos (2-1), Chiefs (3-0) and Rams (1-2). And if the offense isn't fixed, Los Angeles will bury itself in the playoff discussion before the season's halfway point.

"We want to be better. We got to be better. We got to look at our scheme," Harbaugh said. "We got to look at how we're performing, how we're doing things and who's doing it."