Chargers fail big test against AFC-best Patriots
SAN DIEGO — Philip Rivers sat, his back to his locker, his elbows resting on his knees and just stared across the San Diego Chargers locker room.
The quarterback who spent nearly every second of the previous 3½ hours in a state of heightened animation was stunned and silent.
Seven points? His offense could only muster seven points? It just seemed unfathomable.
"We're all accountable, the whole offense, and our offense tonight scored seven points. I think the first guy you look at is the quarterback, and I didn't play up to par. That was pretty clear," Rivers said.
For the Chargers, Sunday's game against the New England Patriots wasn't going to get them into the playoffs, nor was it going to knock them out of postseason contention.
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But the Chargers know that their season will be defined by this brutal late-season stretch, and in this major test against the team currently in control of the AFC, this 23-14 loss felt like a major failure. They trudged out of their home locker room knowing they squandered a strong defensive effort that including a fumble-return touchdown and surrendered their prime position in the AFC playoff race.
"You don't want to be counting who has this many losses, who don't — you just want to win in December. Point blank. Get a streak going to the postseason," cornerback Brandon Flowers told USA TODAY Sports.
If the Chargers got a boost last week from their come-from-behind road win against Baltimore, after losing to New England, they've watched the margin for error nearly disappear. San Diego now finds itself back in the oh-so-familiar position of having to win their way through December just to secure a postseason bid, with a game against Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos coming up next week.
Denver can win their fourth consecutive AFC West title by beating the Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium.
"I mean, we've got to win. We have to win as many as we can," safety Eric Weddle told USA TODAY Sports. "We're bunched up with a lot of teams, so we've got to win, win, win."
But first, the Chargers must learn, because much like the Patriots, the Broncos are a team that has shown they can win in a multitude of ways. Like the Patriots, the Broncos will run the ball — and perhaps will rely on it far more than the Patriots did Sunday night, when they all-but abandoned an effective run game by the second quarter. And the Broncos should be able to strike for the big play, like the Patriots did with their dagger 69-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Julian Edelman.
More concerning perhaps, especially for Rivers, is the specter of a similar offensive meltdown next week against a Denver defense that could give the Chargers trouble similar to the Patriots — with smothering cornerbacks and a steady pass rush. Rivers was under constant pressure Sunday night, hit seven times and sacked four.
"We knew what this stretch was, starting last week. They are all tough, we knew what it was and how hard it was going to be," Rivers said. "We've got the division champs and leaders coming in here next week, and shoot, we know the challenges they present and how hard it is to beat them. But we do know how to beat them. It's going to take our best to get that done."
Rivers was among the final players out of the Chargers' locker room late Sunday night, finally swapping out his dirty uniform and cleats for a plaid shirt and a pair of cowboy boots. But Rivers wasn't the only Chargers player struggling to grasp just what they had lost.
"Mentally, it's going to sting for a few days. But the quicker we can get on and move on from it and try to learn from it and figure out a way to be better as a team and finish these games, that's what it is going to take, because the teams coming up are just going to be like this one," Weddle said.
Then Weddle sighed.
He knows this isn't how December games are supposed to play out for the Chargers.
Last year, San Diego won its final four games — and went 4-1 in December — to claim a wild-card spot and then knocked off the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs. After the win in Baltimore last week, when Rivers threw the game-winning touchdown pass in the final minute, it felt like the Chargers were on the verge of a similar late-season surge.
But playing inside what felt like a neutral site — after so many Patriots fans invaded Qualcomm Stadium that it felt like Foxborough West — and watching Brady so emphatically celebrate his own scrambling first down and then his defense's final fourth-down stop, was deflating.
"It's just that it was a big game, a big measuring stick against one of the best teams in the league, if not the best. We wanted to come out and play well, and we just didn't," Weddle said. "Hopefully we feel, from man to man, that we can play with the best, and if we play a little better, we could win this game."
Follow Lindsay H. Jones on Twitter @bylindsayhjones.
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