Justin Herbert has spent plenty of time taking hits, and Breiden Fehoko has spent plenty of time making sure the Chargers hear about it.
The former Los Angeles nose tackle turned one of the franchise’s loudest critics took his latest swing Thursday, using his show to blast the organization’s leadership after an 0-2 start. Fehoko called out the Spanos family and team president Ed McGuire by name, saying ownership needs to take a hard look at what Herbert has been dealing with year after year.
Then he went straight at general manager Joe Hortiz, saying Hortiz should have been fired two years ago.
That timeline doesn’t line up, of course. Hortiz didn’t even get the job until January 2024, a week after Jim Harbaugh was hired. Two years ago, he was still getting his footing elsewhere.
But Fehoko’s point wasn’t about calendar math. It was about a franchise he believes keeps putting Herbert in the same impossible spot.
This isn’t a new bit for Fehoko, either. He has been hammering away for months, arguing that the Chargers need a full reset and pushing back on fans who think he’s just chasing attention. His criticism comes from being inside the building, and he believes that gives him a clearer read on why Sundays keep looking the way they do.
Hortiz isn’t the only one in his crosshairs. Fehoko has also questioned Harbaugh’s credibility and compared the Chargers to the Browns, only with a nicer public image. The message running through all of it is the same: in his view, the people in charge have never built a roster good enough for Herbert.
And Herbert’s numbers give that argument plenty of fuel. Seven seasons into his career, he has been sacked 231 times, thrown 61 interceptions and fumbled 37 times.
On a stat sheet, that can look like a quarterback issue. In context, it looks more like a quarterback who has spent too much of his career under siege.
The first two games of the 2026 season haven’t done anything to quiet that conversation. Against Arizona, a team that won just three games last year, Herbert threw for 209 yards, was sacked three times and led an offense that didn’t crack 300 yards.
The Raiders game was uglier. Herbert finished with 192 passing yards, two interceptions and Los Angeles coughed the ball up six times.
Herbert didn’t fire back afterward. He said the play wasn’t acceptable and that the responsibility to fix it belongs to the players.
Two losses don’t make a season, and the Harbaugh-Hortiz era did bring some much-needed stability to a franchise that had been searching for it. But Fehoko is tapping into the same old Chargers worry that never really goes away: are they protecting Herbert, surrounding him, and giving him a real shot?
Until the answers change, he’s not the only one asking.
In Other News...
Justin Herbert Gets An Unexpected New Target As Chargers Search For Stability
The Chargers had to turn to some familiar family ties as they sorted through injuries at tight end, activating Patrick Herbert for their matchup with the Bills. The younger brother of Justin Herbert is set to make his NFL debut after previously playing at Oregon, a path that included time on the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad last season before landing back in Los Angeles.
For a Chargers offense still looking for steadier footing, Patrick Herbert adds depth at a position that has been thinned out by injuries and gives the team another option behind the starters. It also creates a rare sideline dynamic for Justin Herbert, who will now have his brother in the same huddle environment as the Chargers try to keep their tight end room intact. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Face An Early Buffalo Test That Could Define This Team
The Chargers first real road measuring stick comes quickly, with a Week 3 trip to Highmark Stadium to face the Bills in a game that already feels like more than an early-season checkpoint. Los Angeles will take the field in its white-on-white look, while Buffalo breaks out its Nickel City alternate gray uniforms, giving the matchup a little extra stage presence before the football even starts. Fox will carry the game with Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady on the call, and the forecast calls for 66 degrees and light northeast winds, so the setting should be about as clean as the stakes are high.
What could complicate things even more is the officiating assignment, with Clete Blackman and his crew set to work a game that figures to draw plenty of scrutiny anyway. Blackmans crew has developed a reputation for a heavy whistle, and that matters in a matchup where every drive, every field-position swing and every discipline issue could loom large for a Chargers team trying to see what it really is this early in the season. [Read more 🡒]
Chargers Already Face A Real Omarion Hampton Trust Problem
Omarion Hampton has been too important to the Chargers offense to come off the field, but the first two games of the 2026 season have already put a spotlight on the one thing Los Angeles cannot ignore. Hampton has handled a heavy workload and found the end zone, which is part of why the Chargers continue to view him as their lead running back, yet the early returns have also included two fumbles and a growing need for cleaner finishes to his runs.
The latest turnover came against the Raiders, when a late-game fumble helped set up a touchdown and made the margin for error feel even smaller. For a Chargers team leaning on Hampton for production and stability, the issue is not whether he can carry the offense, but whether his ball security can keep pace with the role they have handed him. [Read more 🡒]