Harbaugh wisely benches starters for Week 18, prioritizing playoff health over a meaningless game's pride and avoiding another devastating injury.
The Los Angeles Chargers head into Week 18 against the Denver Broncos with nothing left to play for but pride. After Saturday’s loss to the Houston Texans, the AFC West officially belongs to Denver and the Chargers are locked into a road playoff game in the Wild Card round.
Because of that, Jim Harbaugh is taking no chances.
Justin Herbert will not suit up and it is expected that many of the Chargers’ key players will either sit entirely or see extremely limited snaps against a Broncos team that will be playing hard to secure the one seed and a first round bye. While this decision may be frustrating for some fans, resting the starters is absolutely the correct move.
Herbert in particular has had essentially no real opportunity to rest his broken left hand since suffering the injury against Las Vegas. He has done everything imaginable to keep this team afloat while dealing with constant adversity, injuries and protection issues. Asking him to put himself at risk in a meaningless Week 18 game would be irresponsible.
The upside simply is not there. The Chargers are already locked into the Wild Card round. Winning this game does not meaningfully improve their situation. The difference between the six seed and the seven seed is minimal and potentially irrelevant depending on how the AFC South shakes out. Is it worth risking a serious injury just to potentially change matchups by one spot? Absolutely not.
Fans remember what happened the last time the Chargers treated a meaningless Week 18 game like business as usual. Brandon Staley trotted out his starters in Denver and it ended with Mike Williams suffering a devastating back injury. That team never recovered. Now imagine losing Omarion Hampton, Ladd McConkey or another offensive lineman in a game that means nothing. This roster simply cannot afford it.
Playing starters to chase the six seed over the seven seed would be organizational malpractice. Harbaugh may not be perfect, but he is clearly evaluating this situation with a proper risk versus reward mindset. That alone should be refreshing for Chargers fans.
Could Trey Lance and the backups play spoiler and knock New England out of the one seed? It’s unlikely, but it is what Patriots fans will be hoping for this week. For the Chargers, the focus is clearly on January football.
For once, the team is making decisions with the playoffs in mind rather than emotion or optics. That matters. Now we wait to see if it pays off.