Woof. Ok, after some time to decompress, as well as watching some coaching dominoes fall, it’s time to discuss the Bolts' demise.

Today’s Hottest Take: The Elephant in the Room

Ok, this is far from a fun topic to discuss, but the main discussion heading into this Chargers playoff run was Justin Herbert and his playoff troubles. Now exiting the playoff run early once again. The noise has increased dramatically.

I love Justin Herbert; he is the franchise quarterback of the Los Angeles Chargers. He is also now 0-3 in the postseason, and despite all of the awful circumstances he’s faced in those games, there is a clear and distinct difference in Herbert in the regular season versus Herbert in the postseason. The superstar throws and Herculean efforts you see in Weeks 1-18 are not there in the wildcard weekend. Now that the standard is probably not a fair one, but it’s the one that he has set for himself with his amazing performances. We've seen him put the Chargers on his back and overcome the odds before, but in all three postseason appearances, he has failed to do so, and that does mean something.

Especially Sunday night against New England, we saw Herbert look skittish in the pocket, and at times, we saw Herbert borderline gunshy. Putting up one of his worst career graded games when dropping back 20+ times.

This is a fair response for a QB who has been pressured and hit at a historic rate throughout the course of an entire NFL season, but it was not something we had really seen to this point. Justin Herbert’s offensive line in the first half (emphasis on only the first half) was competent, and kept him relatively clean, and unlike my prediction heading into the week, he did not carve New England up with that being the case. There were at least three times in that game where I found myself thinking, “I swear I’ve seen him make this play 100 times before,” on downfield opportunities missed, and that being a trend in the playoffs does worry me. With all of that said, I’ll still stand by No. 10 any day of the week.

What You Need to Know: Greg Roman Had To Go

The bad man is gone. After spending the last segment addressing why Justin Herbert has to take some responsibility for Sunday night, now it’s time to discuss what was arguably the biggest threat to No. 10’s chances in New England. Greg Roman. Greg Roman has found a way to take two of the most absurdly talented quarterbacks in Lamar Jackson and now Justin Herbert to ever grace this sport and completely neuter them come playoff time. It’s remarkable and completely spits in the face of the Romans’ claim that this is “not a Burger King offense”, when in reality it was more enjoyable to hear the Whopper commercial than try to dissect a Greg Roman route combo.

“Imagine Justin Herbert with a run game” was the introductory quote by Roman when he was brought on by Jim Harbaugh. In two years, the Chargers' run game was 15th and 27th in yards per carry, with one of those seasons featuring Justin Herbert as the main character in terms of the run game itself when scrambling for his life. The run game completely rolled over and died in two postseason games under Roman, as well as the offense as a whole. There was one total touchdown scored under Roman in those two games, the miracle third-and-a-mile 80-yard Ladd McConkey touchdown against Houston. The nail in the coffin was Pats linebacker Robert Spillane telling the world how unprepared Greg Roman’s offense was on Sunday night.

There are not enough words to describe how much the Greg Roman scheme didn’t click with a Justin Herbert-led offense, so instead I’ll simply echo the sentiments of Charger fans everywhere. Good riddance.

Before You Go: Now What?

The off-season cometh. Now that the Chargers have moved on from their offensive coordinator, and Jesse Minter is almost guaranteed to fetch a head coaching job in this cycle, the Chargers are in all likelihood looking for two new coordinators.

Names like Mike McDaniel have been floated as a dream hire for Herbert on the offensive side of the ball, and defensively, it appears that Harbaugh has been anticipating this moment, stating that both internal and external options will be considered. All signs point to Harbaugh being open to someone who is a breath of fresh air, with the hope of modernizing the offense and maximizing the talent the offense does have. Look out for LA Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhasse to be interviewed by the Bolts, as he has ties to the current staff and now comes from the fabled Sean McVay coaching tree, which carries so much weight that he’s garnering a couple HC interviews before gathering play-caller experience.

As far as personnel, the Chargers' marquee free agent is midseason trade pick-up Odafe Oweh, who was a stud in the playoff loss with three sacks, including a red zone strip sack to keep the Chargers in striking distance. Oweh publicly stated his desire to stay in LA, and especially after that, letting him out the door would be an unfathomable mistake.

Other key free agents include the legendary Khalil Mack, who very well could have played his last football game, Tony Jefferson, who was a stabilizing force in both the secondary and the locker room, Zion Johnson, who came into his own this season under immense pressure, Teair Tart and Da’Shawn Hand, two of the most underrated players on the entire roster, and Chargers icons Keenan Allen and Denzel Perryman. The Chargers are poised to have plenty of cap room to work with, and plenty of places to improve, making this an off-season that GM Joe Hortiz has to nail.