It was only three weeks ago that Breiden Fehoko said he wouldn’t point fingers at Justin Herbert if he decides to retire. That was a hypothetical, one that made sense to Fehoko. Now, after the Chargers opened their season with a stunning 26-14 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 13, the former Chargers defensive tackle stopped hedging.

He shared a clip from Fearless With Jason Whitlock on X, adding a message of his own: “I’m tired of the blame on Justin Herbert. It’s not his fault. I am telling everyone this as someone who has been in that organization. Ownership and Front office will force him to retire and demand a trade”.

Back in August, Fehoko argued that if the front office kept failing Herbert, he wouldn’t blame the quarterback for eventually walking away on his own terms. Now he’s saying ownership and general manager Joe Hortiz will push Herbert out. That’s a very different stance than the one Fehoko had been repeating all offseason, but it still ties back into the same mechanism he has been discussing: that the organizational failure is making Herbert’s position untenable.

And Sunday gave him plenty of fresh material. Herbert completed 17 of 27 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and one interception, was sacked three times, and finished with an 83.7 passer rating, which marked his sixth-worst mark in a regular-season start under head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Meanwhile, Arizona’s Jacoby Brissett, a backup-turned-starter making his debut under new head coach Mike LaFleur, went 27 of 37 for 277 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Even former Chargers quarterback Chase Daniel didn’t soften it afterward: “Jacoby Brissett outplayed Justin Herbert at home”.

Los Angeles was outgained 393-268, watched Arizona block a punt in the fourth quarter to set up a go-ahead score, and saw Herbert intercepted deep in Cardinals territory on what became the Chargers’ last real scoring chance.

All this after many believed the offense would look different this year. Los Angeles hired Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator to help fix the running game and protect Herbert better than the unit that allowed him to be sacked 54 times in 2025, when the Chargers’ offensive line ranked 31st in the league with a 62.8 grade, per Pro Football Network’s Offensive Line Impact Rankings. Instead, the line looked worse.

Newly signed center Tyler Biadasz tore his ACL during an August joint practice with the 49ers, handing the starting job to rookie Jake Slaughter for the opener, and Harbaugh rotated Kayode Awosika and Trey Pipkins at left guard. The HC defended the rotation afterward as ‘the best thing for [the team]’ without offering much further explanation.

For Jason Whitlock, the red flags were “about the coach, not the quarterback” after the season-opening loss to Arizona. And Fehoko agreed. After all, Arizona entered the season with modest expectations; one preseason projection had the Cardinals finishing last in the NFC West. On the other hand, the Chargers entered the season with one of the AFC West’s highest expectations, carrying a 10.5-win total in preseason betting markets. So, no one was expecting a 12-point gap.

“You’re [Harbaugh] supposed to be this guy that was supposed to take the pressure off of Justin Herbert,” Fehoko told Whitlock. “My only issue with Justin Herbert is he’s too nice of a guy. He will not put pressure on that front office, he will not put pressure on that coaching staff, he will not speak up for himself. 

“Right now, Justin is a great dude. Phenomenal guy, elite player. But he’s not putting pressure on that front office and saying, ‘If you guys do not take care of the situations that I’ve been dealing with for the past six years, I’ll see myself out of here.’”

Fehoko had also criticized the front office back in March for prioritizing 2027 compensatory draft picks over immediate roster help. He went further in August, posting that the Chargers had “100 million in cap space” and still passed on available offensive linemen like Elgton Jenkins, Wyatt Teller and Isaac Seumalo.

Fehoko called the front office’s approach to the position group “cheap.” By Sunday night, sitting at 0-1, Fehoko chose not to hold himself back, posting that the organization “stinks” and needs to “clean house,” and that sometimes people need to “shut the [expletive] up and listen to the guy who’s actually been in that building every day”.

That said, Herbert remains under contract through 2029 on the extension he signed in 2023, and there’s no reporting from any Chargers beat writer or league insider suggesting the front office has discussed moving on from him. Fehoko’s prediction, for now, is his own read on a pattern he says he watched up close from inside that building.

Till things become clearer, Herbert remains the undeniable face of the franchise. But he cannot overcome a blocked punt, multiple turnovers, and a lack of front-office support entirely on his own. For now, the Chargers will have to clean up their uncharacteristic, sloppy mistakes ahead of the Week 2 clash against the Las Vegas Raiders.