Oct 4, 2021; Inglewood, California, USA; Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert (10) drops back to throw a pass against the Las Vegas Raiders during the first quarter at SoFi Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
NFLBy Matt Clapp on

The Los Angeles Chargers took down the Las Vegas Raiders 28-14 on Monday Night Football at Sofi Stadium- after a weather delay that took everybody by surprise. Here are our main takeaways from the Chargers’ win:

Chargers held off a second-half Raiders comeback attempt

The Chargers dominated this game through one half, taking a 21-0 lead into halftime. But the Raiders woke up in the second half with two third-quarter touchdowns, and they also had the crowd in their favor in what felt like a home game (after all, the Raiders played in Los Angeles from 1982-1994, and the Chargers just moved to L.A. in 2017). Derek Carr connected with Hunter Renfrow (who also showed off *defensive* skills on special teams) and Darren Waller for Las Vegas touchdowns to make it a one-score game.

However, Austin Ekeler ran for a Chargers touchdown with 5:20 remaining to give the Chargers a 28-14 lead, and Derwin James put the game away with an interception.

Justin Herbert is a full-on superstar

That’s not really news to many football evaluators and fans, but Herbert put his skills on full display with a great performance on Monday Night Football. Herbert completed 25-of-38 passes for 222 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 107.6 passer rating.

That follows up a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in which Herbert threw for 281 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a 125.0 passer rating. He’s made 220 straight pass attempts without an interception vs AFC West opponents.

And he’s just 19 starts into his NFL career. He’s a special quarterback that may just keep getting better, and for a long while.

Brandon Staley gets it

The Chargers’ wins over the Chiefs and Raiders each featured Los Angeles going for it on fourth down twice in the fourth quarter. They’ve been aggressive calls for Staley, and the first-year head coach has been rewarded for his decisions.

In Monday night’s game, Staley opted to go for it on 4th-and-2 at the 50-yard line while leading 21-14 in the fourth quarter, and Herbert and tight end Jared Cook connected for a first down. Most coaches would’ve punted. The Chargers went on to score a touchdown (Ekeler’s score shared above) later in the drive that basically put the game away.

Chiefs are in last place in AFC West

This division is bonkers. The Chargers, Raiders, and Denver Broncos are 3-1, while the Chiefs are 2-2.

Kansas City should probably still be viewed as at least the slight favorite at the moment, but the Chargers are very much for real and can win this thing- they have the quarterback, head coach, and necessary ingredients to win in the modern NFL, with the upside to get much better. The Chargers have already shown that they can beat the Chiefs — and another win over Kansas City would result in winning the head-to-head tiebreaker — and the Raiders, and they’ll be clear favorites each time over a Broncos team that doesn’t have a quarterback to match the firepower.

And it’s going to be like this for many years to come- the Herbert vs Mahomes battles could become this era’s Brady-Manning, twice a year.

Cardinals only remaining undefeated team

The Raiders entered this game as the only undefeated AFC team and just one of two undefeated teams in the NFL. So now it’s just the 4-0 Arizona Cardinals, a team that nobody would’ve been surprised to see finish last in the NFC West.

The Cardinals are basically the NFC Chargers. An extremely talented young quarterback (Kyler Murray) and a young head coach (Kliff Kingsbury) are elevating Arizona to legit contender status- just like what’s happening with Los Angeles.

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor at The Comeback. He attended Colorado State University, wishes he was Saved by the Bell's Zack Morris, and idolizes Larry David. And loves pizza and dogs because obviously.

He can be followed on Twitter at @Matt2Clapp (also @TheBlogfines for Cubs/MLB tweets and @DaBearNecess for Bears/NFL tweets), and can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

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