San Diego Chargers: "Playoffs? How'd They Do THAT?"

When discussing the NFL team that A.J. Smith built, Marty Schottenheimer finely-tuned, and Norv Turner luckily fell into we must borrow the immortal line from Jim Mora...

"Playoffs?  PLAYOFFS?  You talkin' about PLAYOFFS?" 

Surprisingly enough, Jimbo, when it comes to the AFC Western Division champion San Diego Chargers, yep, we're a-talkin' playoffs, my friend. 

Hey—I'm as surprised as YOU were, Mr. Mora.  I remember walking out of Qualcomm Stadium about a month ago, after watching the Chargers struggle early and often in what became a six-point loss to a pretty darned good Atlanta Falcons team;  My first thought was, "Well, that's just about it.  The team looks half-dead, can't make any big plays, and the Broncos look like they're about to close the deal."

I guess the AFC West must have fallen out of escrow. 

Now fast-forward to late December—San Diego takes advantage of their weak December schedule and racks up four consecutive wins to finish 8-8. The Broncos ended up pulling a "Jennifer Wilbanks," and ran away from the AFC West playoff picture faster than the much-maligned "Runaway Bride" hot-footed it away from that creepy ex-fiance of hers. 

Denver closed out their '08 season looking like they were operating out of the same playbook that the Arizona Cardinals used in snowy New England earlier this month.

When you add all of these ugly puzzle pieces together, you find the Chargers have been forced (at gunpoint) to join the other five AFC teams in the annual post-season tournament.

Now, I ask ya—is this a GOOD thing, or a BAD thing for San Diego?

You know, Charger fans are funny.  I spotted some footage on YouTube today showing a group of Chargers' fans celebrating in National City after the win over the Broncos. You'd swear from the response of the fans they just found out they all had a share in a winning lottery ticket. 

All I hear from NFL players who take part in post-season play is, "Hey. you can't win it if you ain't IN it."  OK, I'll buy that, and, those that know me KNOW I'm the "eternal Chargers' optimist."  I SHOULD be happy about this, and, in a way, I am. 

But...(grin)

Agh...It's just tough to get the first 13 WEEKS out of my mind.  Wow, the Chargers look GREAT in home wins over the once-high-flyin' Jets and the hated Patriots, but other times, they look like they're hung over from the night before, in lackluster games against (insert your name here). 

Heck, just watch the first three quarters of the Chargers / Chiefs game at Arrowhead—THAT game's a microcosm of the entire season, for San Diego...

Chiefs up, 21-3, Chargers doing their best imitation of the Oakland Raiders.  Then, suddenly, it's like someone went over to the Chargers' bench and yelled, "I can't get any good tee times, or any flights to Honolulu." 

BOOM!!! 

Philip Rivers throws two TD passes in the last 73 seconds of the game. Sandwiched around an on-sides kick recovery and the Bolts actually WIN the game, 22-21.

From there, the Chargers beat a fading Bucs' team by 14. Then find out the Denver Broncos have re-defined the word, "fading," by literally lying down on the Qualcomm stadium turf, and letting San Diego run (literally) all over them. 

Darren Sproles had 115 yards rushing and a touchdown, LaDainian Tomlinson had 96 yards on the ground and THREE TD's and Jacob Hester put up 37 more yards on the ground and another rushing TD. Oh, well, that's OK—"Orange Curtain" just doesn't have as good a ring to it, anyway. 

So, out goes Denver (thank goodness—they really WERE atrocious) and in go the Chargers. 

First up in round one of the Wild Card Playoffs—Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, a team that's probably still asking the question, "we went 12-4 this season, and we have to go WHERE?"  Sorry, Peyton, that's a story for another day.  But, let's go back out to National City, and ask the fans what THEY think...

"Super Bowl, BABY!"

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