Justin Herbert threw for 250 yards and had a hand in all three Los Angeles Chargers touchdowns Sunday as they stopped the Tennessee Titans 27-20 in Nashville.
Herbert, who completed 19 of 29 passes with two scores and an interception, capped a 15-play, 9-minute, 99-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 12:58 left in the game. It came after Tony Pollard was stopped for no gain on 4th-and-goal at the Los Angeles 1 to end Tennessee’s bid to take the lead.
Joey Slye converted a 37-yard field goal with 4:19 remaining to get the Titans (1-8) within a score but they never saw the ball again. The Chargers (6-3) chewed up the remaining clock, picking up a trio of first downs to seal their third win in their past four games.
Rookie quarterback Cam Ward hit 12 of 21 passes for 145 yards for Tennessee, which fell to 0-3 under interim coach Mike McCoy. The Titans were outgained 343-206 and committed seven penalties for 60 yards.
The first half was surprisingly high-scoring, although most of Tennessee’s offense had little to do with its offense. Instead, the Titans used their defense and special teams to hang with Los Angeles.
Herbert threw an interception 3:41 into the game that Cody Barton returned 24 yards to open the scoring. After Scott Matlock caught a 2-yard touchdown pass from Herbert to tie the game at 7 midway through the first quarter, Chimere Dike raced 67 yards with a punt to make it 14-7 Tennessee with 2:55 left in the quarter.
Cameron Dicker connected on a 27-yard field goal at the 14:06 mark of the second quarter, followed by Herbert’s 19-yard touchdown pass to Quentin Johnston with 8:37 remaining to put the Chargers up for the first time.
Slye hit a 49-yard field goal with 5:02 on the clock to pull the Titans into a tie but Dicker bombed a 52-yarder 20 seconds before halftime, giving Los Angeles a 20-17 edge going to the break.
