San Diego – How can an impossibly perfect afternoon be filled with utter despair? Try living in San Diego.
The fact the Padres are being forced to make an unexpected pit stop in Denver after falling apart in Milwaukee in the final two days of baseball’s regular season may actually pale in comparison to what happened Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium.
Blowing a 10-point, second-half lead, the Chargers – a 14-2 team a year ago and early favorites for this season’s Super Bowl – lost 30-16 to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Although there wasn’t a cloud in the vicinity, boos nonetheless rained down from the sky from disheartened fans as the Chargers fell to 1-3 in what was supposed to be a get-well game against an overmatched foe. Now, facing a trip to Denver to meet the Broncos (2-2) this Sunday, followed by a contest against the suddenly resurgent Oakland Raiders, the fourth-place Chargers are in danger of becoming an afterthought in the AFC West, let alone factoring in the race for the playoffs.
“Obviously this isn’t good,” quarterback Philip Rivers said of his team’s plight. “Being in last place doesn’t mean anything. There’s a lot of football left. But there’s also a lot of ground to make up and a lot of room to improve.”
What was particularly nettlesome to the Chargers was the sense they were this close to indeed solving their early-season doldrums. In losses to New England and Green Bay the previous two games, San Diego seemed in danger of getting away from its bread and butter – that is, giving the ball to LaDainian Tomlinson. The incomparable L.T., who rushed for 1,815 yards in 2006, gained only 105 in the defeats while Rivers was throwing the ball 30 and 36 times, respectively.
By halftime Sunday, Tomlinson already had rushed for 116 yards as the Chargers took a 16-6 lead. After intermission however, he was fed the ball only six more times. The game turned in the third quarter when, clinging to a precarious 16-9 advantage, Rivers rushed a short pass to Tomlinson, who was still running his pattern.
The pass was intercepted by Derrick Johnson and three plays later, Damon Huard hit Tony Gonzalez with a 22-yard touchdown pass to tie the score. On their next possession, the Chiefs scored again, Huard finding Dwayne Bowe on a 51-yard catch-and-run play. With just over eight minutes left, Rivers was sacked by Johnson, forcing a fumble. The ball bounced into the hands of cornerback Tyron Brackenridge, who raced 50 yards for the game’s final score.
The play triggered a mass exodus in the stands. There were still plenty of sunshine and lots of beaches available for the crowd to hit. For the Chargers, however, there was only a downtrodden retreat to a decidedly gloomy locker room.
“Certainly we didn’t think we’d be sitting here at 1-3. Even at 2-2, we would have thought that we were better than that,” Rivers said. “This was a tough loss, like any of them. We just have to look at it and regroup, but we’ll be in Denver on Sunday.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
