INGLEWOOD — The Chargers handled their business comfortably and confidently coming out of their bye week on Sunday at SoFi Stadium, overpowering the Las Vegas Raiders, 31-14, overcoming quarterback Justin Herbert’s fractured left hand and improving their record to 4-0 against AFC West opponents.
The Chargers improved to 8-4 overall; the Raiders are 2-10.
Now the road gets bumpier.
Now we’ll learn the extent of Herbert’s injury to his nonthrowing hand. He is scheduled for surgery Monday, but he vowed to play without missing a snap, as long as the team’s medical personnel gives him the OK. He played the final three quarters Sunday with a hard cast and a protective glove.
“I’m treating it as if I’m playing Monday,” he said.
The Chargers’ stretch run begins with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles visiting SoFi Stadium for a matchup on “Monday Night Football” on Dec. 8. It’s followed by games against the Super Bowl runner-up Kansas City Chiefs, the surging Dallas Cowboys, the talented but unpredictable Houston Texans and the AFC West-leading Denver Broncos.
Who knows what Denver in January will be like?
It might be 60 degrees and sunny.
There might be blizzard conditions.
It might be somewhere in between.
Three victories for the Chargers would likely cement a playoff berth with 11 overall. Two might do it with 10 wins. One probably won’t cut it. None would mean a long offseason of reflection and retooling a roster that never lived up to expectations because of injuries and plenty of other reasons.
Bottom line: They’ll need Herbert at his best for the final five games.
“I think it’s just something that we’ll see (after the surgery Monday) and we’ll get a feel for,” Herbert said after completing 15 of 20 passes for 151 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. “But I think they (the Chargers’ medical staff) were very hopeful, so that’s always a good thing.”
Asked what might prevent him from playing against the Eagles, he said with his customary seriousness, “If a doctor told me it is a very unwise decision for you to go play. I think that would be the only case.”
Herbert injured his hand on a scramble one play before he connected with Quentin Johnston on a 10-yard TD pass in the first quarter. He ran directly to the locker room to be examined. Trey Lance replaced Herbert to start the Chargers’ next possession and took a handful of snaps.
“He’s a dog,” Chargers right tackle Trey Pipkins III said of Herbert. “I mean, there’s no other way to describe him. We saw it and we said, ‘That’s tough.’ But we knew he was going to be back because that’s just who he is as a person. When you have a quarterback like that, you’d lay down your life for that guy. You know what I’m saying? Because he’d do the same for you.”
The Chargers seized control in the third quarter, driving for two touchdowns, stopping the Raiders at every opportunity and taking a 21-7 lead into the fourth quarter. Kimani Vidal raced 59 yards for one touchdown and Herbert threw a 7-yard TD pass to Ladd McConkey for the other.
Cameron Dicker’s 56-yard field goal 11 seconds into the final quarter extended the Chargers’ lead to 24-7. At that point, only seconds into the fourth, the Chargers had outgained the Raiders by 290-91, including by 165-32 on the ground. The Chargers had 16 first downs to six for the Raiders.
Las Vegas cut it to 24-14 with 7:49 remaining in the game on the second of tight end Brock Bowers’ two 6-yard touchdown receptions from quarterback Geno Smith. Bowers managed to snare Smith’s low pass while also boxing out a Chargers defender a couple of yards deep into the end zone.
Jaret Patterson’s 2-yard run sealed the deal with 1:55 to go.
Vidal rushed for a career-high 126 yards with one touchdown on 25 carries, and Patterson had 54 yards on 11 carries as the Chargers outgained the Raiders by 192-31 on the ground. Overall, the Chargers outgained the Raiders by 341-156. The Chargers had 22 first downs to 12 for the Raiders.
The Chargers sacked Smith five times, including two by outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu, who increased his team-leading total to 10 this season, a career-high. Tuipulotu had six tackles overall, one behind linebacker Denzel Perryman’s team-leading total of seven.
Smith was 18 of 23 for 165 yards with two TDs and one interception.
“This was a great team win and our fates are intertwined and the focus is there from our team,” Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “(But) we’re going to have to do it again next week, and the week after that and the week after that, but I love the way our team responded (after the bye).”