ARLINGTON, Texas — The December trends hold: Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers are perfect, and Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys are perfectly miserable in the most important month of the regular season.
Rivers broke a fourth-quarter tie with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Gates, then followed with a drive that ate up more than seven minutes and ended in a field goal, giving San Diego a 20-17 victory Sunday that keeps the Chargers rolling and the Cowboys reeling with the playoffs approaching.
San Diego (10-3) won its eighth straight and is on the verge of clinching the AFC West. The Chargers are 16-0 in December since Rivers became their starting quarterback.
“You don’t want to fade out in December, you want to be peaking,” Rivers said. “We’ve been able to do that the past few years.”
The Cowboys (8-5) now have consecutive losses for the first time this season, and are headed to New Orleans to face the undefeated Saints on Saturday night.
Forced into third-and-12 from his 47, Rivers responded with a 39-yard pass to Vincent Jackson, then the go-ahead touchdown pass to Gates on the next snap.
After Romo failed to answer, the Chargers iced the victory by using up 7:17 on a 15-play drive that ended with a 34-yard field goal by Nate Kaeding. LaDainian Tomlinson had nine of his 21 carries and 27 of his 50 yards on that series.
“There’s nothing more gratifying than to do it like that,” Tomlinson said.
Trailing by 10 with 1:56 left, Romo managed to get a touchdown — but it came with two seconds left. Then Gates caught an onside kick attempt, keeping Dallas from having a last-gasp chance.
