C.J. Stroud threw five touchdown passes at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Sunday, November 8, 2026, and the Houston Texans beat the Los Angeles Chargers 44-22. The defeat was the Chargers' eighth in eight games — the worst start in the franchise's history.
Houston, which lost its first four games and came into the week off a bye, has now won three of its last four and stands at 3-5. The Texans were 5½-point favorites on the road and had the game effectively decided by halftime.
Nine points, then a collapse
The Chargers kicked field goals on three of their first four drives and trailed only 10-9 late in the second quarter. Cameron Dicker's three kicks included a season-best 52-yarder.
Then Houston scored twice in the closing minutes of the half. Tank Dell took a short pass and ran 63 yards for a touchdown — his first score in more than two years, in his second game back after 22 months recovering from a serious knee injury — and Kayshon Boutte caught a 12-yarder to make it 24-9 at the break.
Nico Collins added a 13-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Boutte a second 63-yard score in the fourth, this one his own career highlight on a four-catch, 125-yard afternoon with two touchdowns.
384 yards against a defense that had allowed none
Stroud finished 21 of 35 for 384 yards with five touchdowns and one interception, picked off by Daiyan Henley in the first quarter after linebacker Marlowe Wax deflected the pass. It was Henley's first interception of 2026.
Houston's 485 total net yards were the most the Chargers defense has conceded this season, and Stroud's was the first 300-yard passing game against that unit all year, according to the team. Houston's defense recorded eight sacks.
Justin Herbert went 13 of 23 for 193 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and was sacked a career-high eight times. He has been brought down 31 times this season, the second-highest total in the NFL. Herbert sat out the closing minutes favoring a taped finger on his left — non-throwing — hand, and DJ Uiagalelei made his NFL debut in relief, throwing a 15-yard touchdown to Derius Davis.
Wide receiver Ladd McConkey was active but did not play because of back spasms.
The streak, in two numbers
Two figures frame how bad the first half of the Chargers' season has been. Their touchdown drought ran to 37 drives before Herbert found Quentin Johnston for a 58-yarder with 12:47 left in the fourth quarter, a stretch the Associated Press called the second longest in NFL history; it was their first touchdown since October 11 against Denver, and by Field Level Media's count it spanned 12 quarters.
The second is 11: counting the final three games of last season, Los Angeles has now lost 11 in a row, matching a franchise record set in 2000. The team has not won at SoFi Stadium since last December.
The 22 points were the Chargers' second-highest total of the season, which is the kind of consolation that tends to follow a four-touchdown loss. Houston plays at Cleveland next Sunday; the Chargers travel to Baltimore for "Monday Night Football," where they face Jesse Minter, their former defensive coordinator.
Reporting from the Los Angeles Chargers, the Associated Press and Field Level Media.
