SAN DIEGO — Earning his next paycheck, Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh said he’ll hold out Justin Herbert and several other starters on Sunday in Denver, a week before the playoffs begin.

The Chargers won’t go far without Herbert carrying them, and no one knows that better than Harbaugh.

A former NFL quarterback, Harbaugh has watched Chargers opponents treat the 6-foot-6 Herbert like the league’s tallest piñata.

Herbert now gets a mental and physical recharge, while backup Trey Lance takes the snaps in practice this week.

The largest bonus, though, is that Harbaugh ensured Herbert won’t be asked to risk injury.

L.A.’s blocking remains subpar, and Denver has a good pass rush, despite the team’s late-season decline on defense.

A noisy crowd Sunday will further challenge a Chargers blocking unit that, at home, had numerous errors in last weekend’s 20-16 loss against the Texans’ AFC-best defense.

The Broncos, for sure, welcomed Harbaugh’s decision to sit Herbert. Herbert and the Chargers are 3-0 all time against Broncos coach Sean Payton and quarterback Bo Nix.

And by winning Sunday, the Broncos would get the top seed and a first-round playoff bye.

Of course, none of that should matter to Harbaugh.

Win or lose in Denver, the Chargers will have to play a wild-card game on the road. Six AFC teams are potential first-round matches for the Chargers, with the Patriots given a 58% chance of being that opponent, per NFL.com’s odds, followed by the Broncos at 19%, the Jaguars at 14%, the Steelers at 6%, the Ravens at 3% and the Texans at 1%.

If Herbert were to play for no good reason and get seriously injured in the regular-season finale, the team’s Super Bowl odds would fall to dead-in-the-water.

The quarterback’s playmaking Saturday against the Texans, on a day when impressive counterpart C.J. Stroud zinged two touchdown passes to build a quick 14-0 lead, further distinguished him from most of the quarterbacks heading to the 14-team Super Bowl tournament.

“Herbert is unreal,” said former NFL quarterback J.T. O’Sullivan.

O’Sullivan broke down the game films for his website, TheQBSchool.com.

On offense, the Chargers didn’t give Herbert much support against a Texans defense that has perhaps the NFL’s best tandem of edge rushers and cornerbacks.

O’Sullivan knew that season-ending injuries to standout tackles Rashawn Slater and Joe Alt, in training camp and Week 9, have created a cascade of challenges for the offense.

But the analyst said Chargers’ run blockers made assignment errors on the unit’s first two plays that would have been unacceptable in Pop Warner or at the high school level.

Herbert would take five sacks and three other hits.

Near game’s end, seeing that Herbert had absorbed a double-shot, O’Sullivan said: “He’s going to be so sore. Holy moly.”

In his summary of the offense, the analyst marveled that the Chargers almost won a game in which they missed their only field goal try and an extra-point kick.

“The whole thing here is, basically, all they’ve got going is Justin Herbert,” he said. “So, you’re messing up pass protection, you’re messing up run blocking, you can’t run the ball, you can’t win on the perimeter, you’re playing against a really good defense. It’s kind of shocking that it’s this close.

“Just a disaster,” he added. “But, man, Justin Herbert is fun to watch.”

Several other Chargers players seemingly would benefit from not having to play against the Broncos.

Derwin James has played in 93% of the defense’s snaps. At 33, fellow safety Tony Jefferson has been involved in numerous collisions.

Receiver Keenan Allen, 33, looks about two steps slower than when he began his NFL career in San Diego 12-plus years ago.

Harbaugh may want to sit Daiyan Henley, too. The linebacker has played in 97% of the defense’s snaps.

But Harbaugh, who was outcoached by the Texans’ DeMeco Ryans in the wild-card game last winter, has got the big move right.

Herbert should be at full speed heading into the playoffs, giving the Chargers a fair chance of beating their first-round opponent — whoever that is.

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