Justin Herbert has thrown for over 25,000 yards until now, but this week the conversation shifted away from his arm. After the Los Angeles Chargers dropped consecutive games, Michael Irvin zeroed in on something smaller than a stat line. Herbert reportedly stepped away from practice to spend time with girlfriend Madison Beer, and Irvin didn’t hold back about it. His question was simple and pointed: why leave practice in the first place?
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“I come from the old school, the Jimmy Johnsons, where all focus must be on winning,” Irvin said on the Dan Patrick Show. “Can’t have focus on everything else. And it’s hard to d to drag everybody’s mind to one place. One place. And you cannot care. You cannot have a locker room thinking that your mind isn’t on winning all the time.
“I have no problem with his great relationship, and it’s a beautiful relationship and all of that, but he has a relationship with us, too. And you’re making $50 million a year. Whatever time she has, whatever airplane she’s taking, you are controlling. Why do you have to leave practice to go take someone or take her to an airport? It makes the rest of the people think, “Ah, is his mind really all the way on winning?” You know, this kind of stuff Jimmy Johnson always told us about and always talked about.”
Herbert and pop star Madison Beer got engaged this past July, the latest step in a relationship that first made headlines back in August 2025. The Chargers quarterback also spent a good chunk of his offseason traveling overseas with Beer, and after a brutal 0-2 start to the season, that trip has become fair game for critics.
Michael Irvin certainly wasn’t holding back. Following LA’s 26-14 loss to the Raiders at SoFi Stadium, the Hall of Famer brought up Herbert’s overseas trip in an Instagram video, poking fun at the QB’s inability to get his offense into the end zone.
“You made the wrong drive,” Irvin said. “Driving your girl to the airport, but you can’t drive this team to that end zone?! That’s a problem.”
His team leaned into the joke in the caption too, writing that Irvin thinks Herbert is “focused on the wrong drive.”
The numbers from Sunday backed up the criticism, at least for now. Herbert threw for 192 yards on 15 of 27 passes, tossed one touchdown against two interceptions, and finished with a passer rating of just 59.5. Rookie corner Hezekiah Masses picked him off twice.
He also lost three fumbles as the Raiders’ defense kept getting in his face, piling up three sacks and nine quarterback hits.
It didn’t help that LA’s offense hurt itself with false starts and protection breakdowns all afternoon, managing only 14 points total.
Through two games, Herbert has completed less than 60 percent of his passes for 401 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. His passer rating sits at 71.6, well below his usual numbers.
Asked afterward whether the locker room was angry about the 0-2 start, Herbert stayed even-keeled.
“No, I don’t think so,” Herbert said. “There’s a group full of grown men that can handle their job, and they’re going to do everything they can to correct it and fix it. We’re going to stick together, and it’s tough. No one wants to lose two games, but there’s nothing we can do about it now, so we’ve got to get better and fix it.”
Head coach Jim Harbaugh, meanwhile, has previously said he believes Herbert will go down as the best to ever play the position. Right now, though, that outlook feels hard to back up.