If there was anyone to blame for the San Diego Chargers’ second-half collapse in their 20-17 loss to the Broncos on Sunday, it was not quarterback Drew Brees.
Nor was it wide receiver Keenan McCardell.
In the somber atmosphere of the locker room after the game, the twice-beaten defending AFC West champions couldn’t even bring themselves to blame it on Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey. On the first play of the second half, Bailey jumped in front of an out-pattern pass intended for McCardell, intercepted it and ran easily into the end zone, lifting the Broncos out of a first-half funk.
“No, no,” said LaDainian Tomlinson, the Chargers’ record-setting running back who scored the first two touchdowns to put San Diego ahead 14-3 at halftime. “Champ is an all-pro. He’s going to make plays. Our job is to make plays, too.”
Even Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer could find no place to lay blame.
“Anytime you give up seven points, it’s a problem,” Schottenheimer said. “I haven’t talked to Drew at this point, but from what I saw, Champ Bailey just sat down on the route.
“When you come out at the half with the ball and you’re up 14-3, and then it goes to 14-10. … But we still could have shut them out and won by four.”
Once Denver was back in the game, the Broncos’ defense turned up the pressure on Brees and his young offensive line. Brees was sacked four times and Tomlinson kept getting hit behind the line of scrimmage, putting the Chargers in several long-yardage situations.
“We didn’t convert a single third down in the second half,” Schottenheimer said. “With that kind of pressure we needed to get the ball out of our hands and quickly upfield to our receivers.”
But it was on a pass probably thrown too quickly that Brees made the critical mistake.
“Champ just made a good play,” McCardell said. “He’d probably seen it on film and was sitting there waiting for it. He didn’t go with me; he just sat there.
“But I don’t feel that was a turning point. That was the first play of the half. We had plenty of chances to put them away after that. We just didn’t make the plays.”
McCardell said Brees toughed out a long day.
“He stood in there and he stood tall,” McCardell said. “They went all-out. With some of those blitzes, it was cover zero. You were either going to get it off or you were going to get hit in the mouth.”
Standing in front of his locker, Brees had the bruises to prove it.
“Obviously, you don’t want to start the half like that, but there was still a lot of football left,” Brees said. “We did so well in the first half, and then to come out in the second half and play like that offensively, it’s on all of us. We need to play better than that.”
Joseph Sanchez can be reached at 303-820-5458 or jsanchez@denverpost.com.
