INGLEWOOD — It started with a run, because what else could the Chargers’ count on, deadlocked as they were with the Philadelphia Eagles in overtime on Monday night at SoFi Stadium? So, quarterback Justin Herbert kept the ball and raced around the right side for a 12-yard gain and a first down.
It ended with a one-handed, game-deciding interception at the Chargers’ 1-yard line because what else could they have done to preserve a wild and unpredictable 22-19 victory over the Eagles in OT? Somehow, some way, safety Tony Jefferson picked off Jalen Hurts’ pass that was intended for Jahan Dotson.
In between, the Chargers’ Cameron Dicker kicked his fifth field goal of the game, a 54-yard boot that capped a six-play, 34-yard drive to begin an overtime he had set up with a tying, 46-yard field goal with eight seconds left in regulation. Dicker also kicked field goals of 45, 34 and 31 yards.
“What a team we have,” Coach Jim Harbaugh said after the Chargers won their second in a row and improved to 9-4 overall with four games left in the regular season. “They refuse to lose.”
Herbert’s fractured and surgically-strengthened left hand was protected by a heavily-padded white glove. Although it seemed nothing could protect him from the onrushing Eagles, Herbert managed to direct three late scoring drives when it mattered most and the game was on the line.
The first drive netted Dicker’s 31-yard field goal that tied it at 16-16, after Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley ran 52 yards for a go-ahead touchdown, the Eagles’ first lead of the game. The second yielded Dicker’s tying, 46-yard field goal after Jake Elliott had given the Eagles a 19-16 lead with a 44-yard kick.
The third set up what proved to be the winning kick from Dicker.
Herbert completed 12 of 26 passes for 139 yards with one touchdown and one interception in his first game since undergoing surgery a week ago on a fractured left hand suffered during the Chargers’ victory over the Las Vegas Raiders on Nov. 30. He also ran 10 times Monday for a team-best 66 yards.
The Eagles sacked Herbert a career-high seven times, but he kept bouncing to his feet.
“He’s a superhero, he’s a competitive maniac,” Harbaugh said. “He was even stiff-arming guys with a broken hand. He had surgery a week ago and he’s out there (Monday) and it felt like I was in a movie where, you know, the quarterback is doing things and where you go, ‘OK, this is getting a little unrealistic.’”
Herbert said he had zero doubt that he would play against the defending Super Bowl champion Eagles.
“Probably Sunday of last week,” he said when asked when he knew when he was going to play, referring to the Chargers’ 31-14 victory over the Raiders. “I tried to be as up front about it as possible. They (the medical staff) said there’s a procedure that needs to be done and you should be good to go by Monday.”
The Chargers’ victory was hardly a one-man magic show, though.
Dicker was flawless on five kicks and Jefferson plucked a pass out of midair with his right arm after teammate Cam Hart deflected Hurts’ pass on a first-and-10 play from the Chargers’ 17-yard line. Hart, defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand and cornerback Dante Jackson also intercepted Hurts.
“Just great awareness, a great play by our corner,” Jefferson said, crediting Hart for the initial play on the ball on his interception, sending Chargers fans among the 72,241 in attendance home happy. “I give all the thanks to him on that play. I just had to finish it. He gave me the alley-oop.”
The Chargers seemed to make Hurts uncomfortable from the opening minutes. He completed 21 of 40 passes for 240 yards with five turnovers (the four interceptions plus a lost fumble). Barkley rushed for 122 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries, but he only broke free once, racing 52 yards down the left sideline for a 16-13 lead with 14:51 left in the fourth.
“What you saw was what type of team we want to be moving forward,” said Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley, who had a team-high seven tackles. “You just saw a team out there that was determined because we’ve got to move forward. Shout out to the offense and shout out to the special teams.
“There were a lot of dogs out there in all three phases.”
The Chargers led 10-6 at halftime, but their lead could have been wider. Or narrower.
The first half was unevenly played in too many ways to mention, but it might have been best summed up by an unusual sequence in the second quarter that featured an interception and two fumbles that resulted in a first down for the Chargers at their own 43-yard line with 8:19 remaining.
Hand intercepted Hurts’ pass at his own 17-yard line and then began running up the field. He didn’t get far before the Eagles’ Will Shipley forced him to fumble. Hurts picked up the ball at the 32, but the Chargers’ Jamaree Caldwell then knocked it from his hands at the 33.
Finally, with the ball rolling free toward midfield, the Chargers’ Troy Dye smothered it at the 43, putting an end to a comical chase. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hurts is the first player to commit two turnovers on the same play dating to 1978, which is as far back as its research went.
The Chargers capitalized on the turnover by extending their lead to 10-3 on Dicker’s 45-yard field goal.
The three-turnover play was merely part of a stretch when the teams had five turnovers in a span of 11 plays after Hurts was intercepted on the Eagles’ next possession and Herbert fumbled the ball away one play later.
“That one stings,” Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni said. “At the end of the day we had some turnovers in this game, which is uncharacteristic of us.”
Herbert had given the Chargers a 7-0 lead with an electric opening drive that included a scramble and then a make-it-up-as-you-go screen pass to running back Kimani Vidal for a 60-yard gain. Omarion Hampton’s first carry after being activated from injured reserve resulted in an 11-yard gain.
Hampton then caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Herbert with 8:49 left in the first half.
The Eagles’ only scores in the half came via two field goals by Elliott.
Hours before the kickoff, the Chargers activated Hampton and fellow running back Hassan Haskins and defensive lineman Otito Ogbonnia from injured reserve. Hampton was sidelined by a fractured left ankle since the Chargers’ loss to the Washington Commanders on Oct. 5.
Haskins had a hamstring injury and Ogbonnia had an injured elbow.