Since being drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers, Justin Herbert has been a great QB in the regular season, but he has yet to win a playoff game in his NFL career.
Now, Herbert must prove that he can win in the postseason. One NFL pundit is concerned that Herbert’s relationship with Madison Beer could get in the way of what’s important on the field.
NFL Analyst Skip Bayless Questions Justin Herbert’s Decisions During OTAs
While with the Chargers, Herbert has dealt with a lot of instability, including bad coaching, offensive line issues, major injuries, and other things out of his control. But in the playoffs, Herbert gets the blame for many issues.
According to PFSN’s QB Impact metric, Herbert’s best postseason performance came in 2022, when he posted a 75.7 QBi grade and finished with 273 yards and only 1 touchdown. In 2024, he threw a staggering 4 interceptions and posted a 66.1 QBi grade. In 2025, Herbert once again struggled, finishing with just 159 passing yards and 0 touchdowns for a 66.3 QBi grade. It’s been pretty ugly for Herbert in the playoffs.
Now, Herbert is catching some heat as he decided to skip two weeks of OTAs in order to join his girlfriend Madison Beer on her tour. NFL analyst Skip Bayless had an issue with this, calling out the Chargers QB on “The Arena: Gridiron.”
“I’m sure he’s madly in love, and he posted on her birthday in March… He posted, ‘She’s my favorite person of all time, she’s changed my life forever.’ Okay, so he’s smitten,” Bayless said of Herbert. “But if you’re running this franchise, if you are at the top, if you’re Jim Harbaugh, you’re thinking, ‘Are we sure about this?’ Because it’s not exactly like she’s the college sweetheart or the high school sweetheart that he’s been with forever. This is a 10-month relationship.
“For the Chargers, they have to be thinking, ‘God, is this gonna work? Is this going to be volatile? And she demands that he be there for her to start her tour.’ Which career is more important: her’s or his? He’s the franchise quarterback for a team with the fifth-best Super Bowl odds.”
What makes Herbert’s decision to skip OTAs even worse is that he’s learning a new offense since Los Angeles hired a new offensive coordinator this offseason in Mike McDaniel. One would think that he’d be focused on football, but clearly he decided to prioritize Beer’s tour instead.
As Bayless notes, a high-profile relationship that’s distracting Herbert could hurt Los Angeles as they try to go on a deep playoff run.
If the Chargers have no issue with Herbert traveling with Beer and he shows he can learn the offense despite skipping OTA, then all is fine. But Herbert will ultimately be judged on whether he can take the next step in his development and produce in the playoffs. Only time will tell if that happens.
