Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers went just 5-12 this past season, finishing in last place in the AFC West division.

Herbert wasn’t able to identify why the Chargers struggled so much in 2023.

“I don’t know if I could just put it into one word,” Herbert said during an appearance on the Chasin’ It podcast. “That’s kind of a tough question and I think there’s a lot that goes into a year. It’s one of those things we have to be better.”

The good news is that Herbert thinks that Los Angeles can take what it experienced this past season and use it as fuel to move forward.

“We have to learn from these mistakes and sometimes you have to go through things like that to know better and to learn and to grow from that and no one wants to experience a season like that,” Herbert continued. “I know that we’re going to be better because of it. The guys in that locker room are going to be tighter together, we’re going to be closer and we know what we need to fix now. Paired up with his new coaching staff, these guys what we bring in, I know that we’ll be focused and dialed in for this year.”

Herbert missed the last four games of this past year due to a finger injury. During the time he was on the field, he threw for 3,134 yards, 20 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing 65.1 percent of his passes and posting a passer rating of 93.2.

The 25-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Oregon, was selected by the Chargers with the sixth overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.

After a very strong first couple of seasons, Herbert took a step back in 2022 and it continued into 2023, which resulted in a whole lot of criticism.

Los Angeles has made the playoffs just once in Herbert’s four NFL seasons, but with a new head coach in Jim Harbaugh heading into 2024, the Chargers are hoping for different results.

We’ll see what Justin Herbert has in store for us come September.

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