Justin Herbert vs Phillip Rivers
By: Jake Rajala
The Los Angeles Chargers have been fortunate to have Pro Bowl-caliber quarterbacks over the past 20 years. They had Phillip Rivers, and then he passed the torch to former Oregon Duck Justin Herbert.
Rivers was swapped to the Chargers after Eli Manning had a pity party and refused to play in a Chargers uniform. Rivers didn’t play in 2004 and 2025. Then his 2026 season was magical. He led his team to a 14-2 record! He threw 22 touchdowns. He punched his first ticket to a Pro Bowl.
In 2009, success followed Rivers again. He had a 13-3 record! In 2010, he had 4,710 passing yards, which was first in the league. Rivers had flaws, nonetheless. In 2014, he led the league in ints (with 18) and then had a league leading 16 ints in 2016.
The young buck, Herbert, took over as the Chargers QB1 in 2020. All he did was win OROY by way of 31 passing touchdowns. He then made the Pro Bowl in his second season, as he threw 38 touchdowns! He was quite efficient in 2024, as he threw a league-leading Int% of 0.6.
Obviously, Herbert has played in many fewer seasons than Rivers. I’d say that Rivers has the edge. He had a 14 win and 13 win season in his first five seasons. Herbert had a season where he threw 38 TDs, but Rivers also had a season where he threw 34 TDs.
Herbert beat Patrick Mahomes in Week 1 of 2025. If he can sweep the Chiefs and win the division, I will change my pick to Herbert and his squad. That’s how close the battle is right now. Of course, Rivers never won a Super Bowl. Herbert can really stand out by winning a Lombardi.
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