PITTSBURGH – For the second time in six weeks, Justin Herbert is wearing a walking shoe.

And as the Los Angeles Chargers return home after more than a week on the road, one question must be asked of this organization: Who will protect Herbert from himself?

Herbert aggravated his upper right ankle injury in the third quarter of Sunday's 20-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The final blow was a sack Herbert took on the second drive of the second half. Herbert dropped back from the action. Linebacker Elandon Roberts rushed on a free kick from Herbert's right side. Roberts grabbed Herbert first. Defensive lineman Cameron Heyward completed the sack from the left. Herbert's already injured right ankle was unfortunately trapped in the chaos.

Herbert could barely move. He managed to ram a handoff into JK Dobbins' gut on the next second attempt. And that was the end of his day. Herbert was subbed out for Taylor Heinicke and did not return.

Justin Herbert leaves and Taylor Heinicke has stepped in pic.twitter.com/maJClHgIo8

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) 22 September 2024

“It was hard for me to walk on it, to move on it and to push off it,” Herbert said after the game.

It had been building to this moment. Left tackle Rashawn Slater suffered a left pectoral injury late in the first half. He went to the locker room and got a splint fitted to attempt a return. Slater was on the field for the first drive of the second half. On his second snap, he was beaten to the outside by Steelers edge rusher Nick Herbig, who had a clean run on Herbert. Slater clearly had no strength in his left arm. Herbig came home and made the strip sack. Herbert missed a free Ladd McConkey on the next play.

Slater was taken out of the game after this series.

Herbert admitted after the game that “a couple of hits” caused the ankle inflammation. He also wore a walking boot for most of training camp because he was suffering from a plantar fascia injury in his right foot.

“I tried hard,” Herbert said on Sunday, “and I couldn’t do it anymore.”

Should Herbert have even taken part in the game?

The Chargers have had to face this question before. Once is an aberration. Twice is a trend.

Think back to Week 3 of 2022. The Chargers were beaten at home by the Jacksonville Jaguars. The week before, Herbert had broken his rib cartilage in a road loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He fought through tremendous and noticeable pain to start and play against the Jags.

The game was a disaster. Slater and edge rusher Joey Bosa both suffered long-term injuries. (Incidentally, both Slater and Bosa were injured in Sunday's game; Bosa aggravated a hip problem on the game's opening play.) With 4:54 left in the fourth quarter, the Jaguars led 38-10. It was over. And yet Herbert returned for the game's final drive. He took several unnecessary hits.

“I just didn’t want to let my team down,” said Herbert after this defeat.

The Chargers couldn't keep him off the field in this game, even when it was out of reach.

Almost two years to the day later, the Chargers have a new coach in Jim Harbaugh. Herbert is a franchise quarterback with an annual salary of $262.5 million. Nevertheless, Herbert's unearthly toughness gets him into dangerous situations.

Against the Jaguars in 2022, Herbert was able to avoid disaster.

He did not do so on Sunday.

Now only an MRI scan can show how much time he will miss and how much this aggravated injury will affect him for the rest of the season.

Herbert made a famous statement after the game: “My responsibility as quarterback is to give everything I can for this team and my teammates.”

together. pic.twitter.com/gU8pnaDPqD

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) 22 September 2024

To give your all, sometimes you have to know when to take a week off.

Who in this organization has the necessary long-term, 10,000-foot perspective?

“I've been in this position before,” said Harbaugh, who played 14 seasons as an NFL quarterback. “With the Warriors, they give them a chance. And that's what I wanted to do.”

Harbaugh did indeed take Herbert out of the game. But by that point, Herbert could no longer run. The damage was done. Too little, too late.

“My plan was for him to leave the game at the first sign of a limp,” Harbaugh said.

He added: “It was never his decision to play today or to stay.”

Harbaugh said Herbert was able to “move a lot better” during the Chargers' walk-through on Saturday and that influenced his decision to use Herbert against the Steelers.

Herbert said he “really put the ankle to the test” during Saturday's run and “felt comfortable doing it.”

But the reality is that he didn't move well in warmups. He took a few snaps under center and had trouble moving laterally while avoiding quarterback coach Shane Day. On a throw early in the second quarter, he hit Quentin Johnston on a comeback route to the right sideline, to the other side of the field. Herbert completed the pass, but he didn't kick off with his right ankle, his standing leg. The ball only got there because of Herbert's tremendous arm strength.

The signs were there.

Tony Romo talks about how Justin Herbert's injury will affect the Chargers' offense against the Steelers today pic.twitter.com/GYzAOIl55w

— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) 22 September 2024

“I felt like he was able to protect himself,” Harbaugh said. “He was able to play the position effectively.”

Herbert was effective in the first half, completing 12 of 16 passes for 125 yards and a touchdown. But when Slater injured his pectoral muscle, the defense collapsed. The Chargers moved Trey Pipkins III from right guard to left tackle, a position he hasn't played in a game since 2021. Late in the first half, they tried Jamaree Salyer at left tackle for a snap. He was immediately beaten by Steelers edge rusher Alex Highsmith. Pipkins replaced Salyer at left tackle on the next play, and Salyer moved inside to right guard. Harbaugh stayed with that lineup at forward defense in the second half after Slater left the game.

The Chargers allowed three sacks on their final two drives after Heinicke replaced Herbert. Rookie right tackle Joe Alt, who was injured on the game's final offensive play, allowed one of those sacks by Steelers edge rusher TJ Watt.

“It was just a lot of moving parts,” Pipkins said. “We just have to be able to roll with the punches and do what we have to do no matter what the circumstances.”

Heinicke completed two passes for 24 yards.

“I wish we had given him a little more time there for the surgery,” Harbaugh said.

The defense kept the Chargers in the game, but the unit was on the field for more than 20 minutes in the second half. The dam finally broke on a 55-yard touchdown run by Calvin Austin III that gave the Steelers a 10-point lead.

Late in the third quarter, after Herbert left the game, the Chargers were assessed three penalties on a Steelers field goal drive that had given them the lead. Two of them were personal fouls on third downs – an unnecessary roughness on safety Derwin James Jr. and a roughness on the passer on Khalil Mack.

“We just didn't make enough plays on defense,” James said. “The offense just cost us a lot today.”

The Chargers will face the Chiefs next week at SoFi Stadium.

They haven't beaten Kansas City at home since 2013. The game was played in San Diego.

The focus of the preparations should be on Herbert and the newly formed Chargers trying to make a statement against Patrick Mahomes and the Chargers trying to find balance in a rivalry that has existed for over a decade.

Instead, it will be about Herbert's ankle.

About an injury that could have been avoided.

Herbert will always, always try to play and overcome everything that hurts him. That's in his nature.

The organization's job is to protect its most valuable asset, so to look at the situation, do a cost-benefit analysis and make the right decision: miss a game in Week 3 to potentially have a healthier Herbert for the rest of a long season.

The Chargers had no one to make the right decision in the final moments of the Jaguars game. And it seems they don't have anyone to make that right decision in 2024 either.

Who will protect Herbert from himself?

(Top photo: Brandon Sloter / Getty Images)