Chargers' Inability to Close Games Is Killing San Diego's 2015 Season

The San Diego Chargers just keep finding ways to lose games down the stretch. The latest one is the toughest to stomach and ultimately brings an end to their already fleeting 2015 playoff hopes.

It happened on the national stage of Monday Night Football, to a now 3-5 Chicago Bears team filling some of their most important positions with rookie players. San Diego led by two scores entering the fourth quarter, only to suffer a 22-19 defeat at Qualcomm Stadium.

If it feels like the Chargers are losing all of their games in the there-for-the-taking fashion displayed again Monday night, it's because they practically are.

Of 2-7 San Diego's nine games this season, eight have ended as one-score games. The Chargers have been on the losing end of six of them, including five in a row.

Even more worrisome is the Chargers have become masters at blowing leads. Monday marked the third time in the last month they led in the fourth quarter, only to end up losers.

Quarterback Philip Rivers reached the 3,000-passing-yard plateau for the 10th-straight season. It's safe to say he'd trade the pretty stats for a winning record even after taking his share of the blame, per the team's Twitter account:

It's worth noting, of course, that Rivers has been dealt a tough hand in terms of untimely injuries over the last few weeks.

Star receiver Keenan Allen—in the midst of a historic season—suffered a season-ending injury in Week 8. Veteran wideout Malcom Floyd went down Monday night with a shoulder injury that could be the end of his career, Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported. 

But the Chargers' late-game tailspin began long before those injuries took place. With tight end Antonio Gates, running back Danny Woodhead and other serviceable options, San Diego still isn't getting it done.

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The Chargers also aren't giving rookie running back Melvin Gordon room to operate after spending a first-round pick on him in May. Gordon hasn't surpassed 55 rushing yards since Week 2, a phenomena that isn't going unnoticed as NFL Network noted:

With supposed offensive guru head coach Mike McCoy not giving his feature back the time of day, the least his team could do is slow the opponent on the ground. That's not happening, either. The Chargers rank firmly in the league's bottom 10, giving up nearly 125 rushing yards per game.

Even with the Bears filling the backfield void of Matt Forte with Jeremy Langford and Ka'Deem Carey—anything but household names—San Diego still gave up more than 100 rushing yards.

Simply put, the Chargers enter their Week 10 bye in the worst position of the Rivers era. It's not surprising he and the rest of his team want nothing to do with football over the next week, as Michael Gehlken of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported:

The football gods have not been kind to San Diego as of late with crushing injuries, but the Chargers can't blame them for their 2-7 record. Not when they have been in position to win almost all of those games.

Firmly in the cellar of the AFC West—and the entire league, really—entering their bye, the Chargers will have to find something other than playoff hopes to motivate them down the stretch.

Even a relentless, late-season string of victories against the odds likely wouldn't produce that much for San Diego, in what's quickly turning into the Chargers' worst season in over a decade.