Justin Herbert had just three interceptions in the regular season. He surpassed that Saturday in just one playoff game.

Herbert was picked off a career-high four times, including one that was returned for a touchdown, to help the Texans coast to a 32-12 home win over the Chargers.

“I let the team down,” the Chargers quarterback said. “You can’t turn over the ball like that and expect to win. I put the team in a tough position there with four turnovers like that.”

Herbert had never thrown more than two interceptions in a game before facing a Texans secondary led by All-Pro cornerback Derek Stingley, who had two INTs. Eric Murray scored his first career touchdown on a 38-yard interception return late in the third quarter. Rookie Kamari Lassiter had the other pick.

Herbert was asked what changed Saturday.

“It’s just on me to protect the ball and be better about that,” he said. “I was aggressive downfield and you’ve got to do a better job at getting the ball out, throwing it away or better ball placement.”

The Chargers (11-7), who returned to the playoffs under first-year coach Jim Harbaugh, lost in the wild-card round for a second straight time after also losing in the 2022 season to remain without a postseason win since 2018.

Since the merger, quarterbacks are 55-551-2 when throwing four or more interceptions in the regular season and just 3-33 when doing so in the playoffs.

The Texans made Herbert uncomfortable in the pocket all day, sacking him four times and hitting him another nine.

“He’s got to be able to finish a throwing motion,” Harbaugh said. “Quarterback’s got to be able to do that. We didn’t put him in the position to do that enough.”

Harbaugh said the pressure that the Texans’ Will Anderson Jr. and Danielle Hunter created was “the best we’ve seen.”

Herbert was 14 of 32 for 242 yards with a 40.9 passer rating.

The Chargers managed just 50 yards rushing, their second fewest of the season. Their inability to run the ball made things that much harder on Herbert.

The Texans were up 10-6 early in the third quarter when the Chargers recovered a fumble by Joe Mixon. They went for it on fourth-and-2 on the next drive. They chose to pass instead of run and Quentin Johnson had a reception, but was stopped short of the first-down marker by Stingley to give the Texans the ball at their 34.

Harbaugh said the play was designed to be deeper.

Another early exit for Steelers: Unable to reverse the negative momentum of a late-season fade, the Steelers disappeared from the playoffs with a humbling loss to their fiercest rival.

The Steelers were eliminated by Ravens, who rolled to a 28-14 victory on Saturday night. The Steelers closed the season with five straight losses.

This defeat, of course, hurt more than the four that preceded it.

“I’m worried less about the regular season,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “In the single-elimination tournament, I’m really just disappointed in how we performed tonight, given the opportunity we had.”

The Steelers’ strength this season was its defense. The unit was consistently effective in shutting down the run and notched 33 takeaways, tied for the NFL lead.

In this game, however, the Steelers were trampled by star running back Derrick Henry and quarterback Lamar Jackson.

Henry ran for 186 yards and two touchdowns. Jackson carried for 81 yards and also threw a pair of TD passes.

The Ravens finished with a 299-29 advantage in yards rushing. That was too much for the Steelers to overcome.

The Steelers were 10-3 and were atop the AFC North on Dec. 8 after trouncing the Browns at home, but that would be their final win.

The Steelers’ final month of the regular season included a 34-17 loss in Baltimore that propelled the Ravens toward the division crown and a home game to start the playoffs. The Steelers (10-8) also lost to the Eagles, Chiefs and finally, at home against a Bengals team that came in with an 8-8 record.

The Steelers have never had a losing record in Tomlin’s 18 seasons and have reached the playoffs a dozen times under his direction. Although both streaks continued this season, it’s unlikely Tomlin or Steelers fans will look back on this chapter with any sense of pride.

Just as disheartening, the Steelers have lost six consecutive postseason games since an 18-16 win over the Chiefs in January 2017. It’s been one-and-done for the Steelers over their last five trips to the playoffs, and Tomlin is still striving for his first Super Bowl win since the 2008 season. He moved within one loss of matching Marvin Lewis’ dubious NFL record of seven consecutive playoff defeats.

“I’m just assessing what transpired tonight,” Tomlin said. “Those are my bags, not their bags. The journey that we were on certainly came to a disappointing end tonight.”