Drew Brees is best known for his time with the New Orleans Saints, but it was with the Los Angeles Chargers franchise where he began his NFL career.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee began his NFL career as a second-round draft pick of the Chargers in 2001. It took a few years for Brees to establish himself as a true franchise quarterback, but he eventually did during his final two years with the Chargers, garnering his first Pro Bowl bid and winning NFL Comeback Player of the Year during the 2004 season when he led the Chargers to the playoffs.
While Brees would eventually take his talents to New Orleans, paving the way for Philip Rivers to become the franchise quarterback in 2006, Brees still keeps close tabs on his former franchise as a FOX analyst. The current Chargers — led by Justin Herbert and Jim Harbaugh — have been a competitive team in the tough AFC, but they’ve failed to crack through the glass ceiling in the playoffs. Los Angeles has lost back-to-back Wild Card playoff games with Herbert/Harbaugh leading the way and they’ve lost three Wild Card games overall in the Herbert era.
Brees — who is a Super Bowl champion — put Herbert on notice by saying that at some point, Herbert is going to have to “make some plays.”
“That style of offense under Harbaugh, wherever he’s been, it’s been defense and run game,” Brees said. “That was Marty Schottenheimer. That’s the hallmark of a lot of really good teams because that type of system can travel. That can travel anywhere into domes, into bad weather, across the world. That’s the formula for winning. But at some point, the QB is going to have to make some plays. He’s going to have to convert some third downs that you didn’t expect him to convert, or just do some things to continue to possess the ball that give you a chance to go down and win the game.”
Justin Herbert’s Playoff Struggles Have Been Really Bad
Under Herbert’s lead, the Chargers have blown a 27-0 lead against the Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs and in their past two games, they’ve struggled drastically on offense. The Chargers were soundly defeated by the Houston Texans in the playoffs during the 2024 season, with Herbert posting his worst NFL game with a 43.8% completion rate, a career-worst four interceptions and a career-low passer rating of 40.9.
The Chargers lost to the New England Patriots in the playoffs during the 2025 season, being soundly defeated 16-3. Herbert was sacked six times, lost a fumble and failed to lead Los Angeles to a touchdown.
Making matters even more difficult for the Chargers is the fact that they play in arguably the toughest division in football in the AFC West with the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs. The Broncos came within a game of advancing to the Super Bowl after winning the AFC West for the first time in a decade and arguably would have had Bo Nix never been injured. Meanwhile, the Chiefs dominated the AFC for over half a decade, representing the conference in the Super Bowl on five occasions while winning three of them.
Justin Herbert Ranked 7th-Best Quarterback by NFL Execs, Coaches and Scouts
Herbert is regarded as one of the best quarterbacks in the game with execs, coaches and scouts ranking the Chargers quarterback as the seventh-best at his position.
However, it’s clear that Herbert won’t be considered one of the elite players at his position — even if his talent calls for it — until he starts winning playoff games. As Brees notes, Herbert is going to have to make some plays in the playoffs in order for that to happen.
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