Jim Harbaugh makes Chargers a thing of the past in win over Bengals: ‘Beginning to believe’

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – It was about to happen again. A sequence of events so familiar that it has become synonymous with the franchise itself. The Los Angeles Chargers were on national television and nothing, it seemed, could stop another snowball from tumbling downhill and ruining the dream of a more promising future. Not even Jim Harbaugh.

Justin Herbert, who hadn’t turned the ball over in more than two months, fumbled a possession and a likely two-score lead away.

The Cincinnati Bengals scored three straight touchdowns.

A 21-point lead disappeared into the chilly November night.

“Things are starting to hit the fan,” as edge rusher Joey Bosa put it.

What happened next is the clearest sign yet that these are not the same Chargers.

They blew the lead. But they didn’t lose.

They avoided collapse. They teamed up and stopped the snowball. They got up off the mat and fought on.

The weight of historic failures was no match for the determination and resilience Harbaugh has instilled in this team.

Do you want to know what a renewed culture looks like? It was right there when JK Dobbins jumped into the end zone with 18 seconds left. The Chargers stared their demons in the face Sunday night at SoFi Stadium and emerged with a 34-27 win over the Bengals, their fourth in a row.

JK DOBBINS FOR THE SCORE

| @SNFonNBC pic.twitter.com/M0RHEWbdUg

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) 18 November 2024

The roster is full of new players. But those who have been here for the failures, who saw the 2022 playoff debacle in Jacksonville, who bears those stains? They know what this victory means.

“Obviously I’ve been on the other side of it. It’s demoralizing as a team,” safety Alohi Gilman said. “And yeah, you want the blowout wins, beat them by 30, and that also gives a lot of confidence to a team. But to have a game like that where you give up a lead but you’re at your best when your best is needed and to get a win, I think that’s more of a key win than beating somebody by 30, given the story.

“You go through some adversity and win, it will push your team up to the level even more.”

“We’re trying to turn the worm here,” safety Derwin James Jr. said.

“There’s been a lot of games over the years where we’ve been put in that position and come up short,” Bosa said. “So I’m just proud of everybody.”

“I feel like we used to get in this situation and it was almost like an ‘Oh no, not again,'” offensive lineman Trey Pipkins III said. “It seemed like the mindset. But now it’s like, we know we’re going to win. It’s a mindset shift, it seems like everyone’s done collectively, that we don’t doubt it, we know what we can do, we trust ourselves, we trust our coaching.”

played our best when our best was needed pic.twitter.com/lpazRZI7dE

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) 18 November 2024

The Chargers dominated the first 35 minutes of this game. Herbert was electric in the first half, through the air and as a scrambler. In defense, the pass rush was suffocating. The Chargers led 24-6 at halftime. They extended the lead to 27-6 with a field goal on their second possession of the third quarter.

Then the Chargers unraveled.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow caught fire. He and the receiver duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins took over the game. Chase caught a fourth-down touchdown in the red zone to make it a two-possession game. On the next drive, Higgins got past the Chargers secondary for a 42-yard touchdown. After Herbert’s fumble in Bengals territory, Burrow found Chase on a loose play for a 17-yard touchdown to tie the game.

“I have to be better with the ball,” Herbert said.

Burrow’s escape ability stymied the pass rush. The Chargers were dealing with injuries at cornerback. Cam Hart left the game with a concussion. Kristian Fulton was in and out as he dealt with his lingering hamstring injury.

Herbert missed two third-down throws in the fourth quarter, one to Quentin Johnston and one to Ladd McConkey. He was superhuman in the first half. He was lethal for most of the second half.

The outcome felt inevitable.

On the sidelines, however, there was no fear to be found. No tumbling. Just believe.

“Guys were just so focused on what we were going to do next and our preparation that it didn’t even cross our minds, which is different than in the past,” Gilman said.

It used to be, “Uh oh, here we go again,” according to Gilman.

Sunday night, “Nobody was shaking,” Gilman said.

The Chargers needed two hits. This organization actually catching a break late in a game is clear evidence of the paradigm shift underway. Bengals kicker Evan McPherson missed from 48 yards. On the next possession, he missed from 51 yards. The score remained tied.

“They definitely had momentum,” receiver Joshua Palmer said. “But not for long.”

After a Chargers three-and-out, the Bengals took over at their own 16-yard line with 1:26 left. The defense came up with perhaps the biggest stop of the season. Burrow knocked Chase on a go ball down the right sideline on first down. Fulton forced an incompletion on second down. On third down, linebacker Daiyan Henley flew through an open rushing lane and hit Burrow as he threw. Incomplete. Point.

“I had to take my shot,” Henley said.

Herbert regained his form in the first half for a final drive. He connected twice with McConkey to move the Chargers into field goal range. Then Dobbins broke loose for the go-ahead touchdown.

“We’re just resilient,” said McConkey, who set a career high with 123 receiving yards.

“There’s magic going on,” Dobbins said.

The @Chargers got the ball with 45 seconds left.

Four plays later, they called the game. #CINvsLAC pic.twitter.com/C7cOEzNt1A

— NFL (@NFL) 18 November 2024

James broke up a Burrow Hail Mary to seal the win.

“We just found a way to finish,” James said.

“We have that grit,” left tackle Rashawn Slater said.

“Didn’t break, didn’t strain, didn’t even trip,” Harbaugh said.

The Chargers are 7-3. They are four games over .500 for the first time since 2018.

“Something is being built,” Henley said. “We’re not the same team.”

No, the Chargers are not the same team.

This win confirmed that.

For one night, Harbaugh accomplished the seemingly impossible.

He made Chargering a thing of the past.

“It just feels a little different right now,” Bosa said. “We’ve got a shot at something special. When coach and everybody else keep hammering it into us and talking about it, I think we’re starting to believe.”

(Photo of Jim Harbaugh and JK Dobbins celebrating his touchdown in the second quarter: Gregory Bull/Associated Press)