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NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- With one victory, the San Diego Chargers have done the improbable: They changed the way they're perceived -- now and maybe for the rest of the season.
Not only did they beat Tennessee on the road, the first time they handled an opponent with a winning record away from San Diego, but they did it after overcoming a 14-point deficit and a raft of mistakes.
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| San Diego takes a step up in the AFC with a gritty win at Tennessee. (AP) |
Linebacker Shawne Merriman was missing. So was fullback Lorenzo Neal. Tight end Antonio Gates was handicapped by a hip pointer. Defensive tackle Jamal Williams was sidelined with a sprained ankle. And quarterback Philip Rivers played on one leg for a half.
Rivers is the most remarkable story because, as coach Norv Turner later said, there was no guarantee he would recover from a sprained left knee that sidelined him late in the first half.
Yet he not only returned, he led the Chargers to two fourth-quarter touchdowns -- the second climaxing an 80-yard drive with nine seconds left -- and San Diego outlasted the Titans 23-17 in overtime.
I don't know if the Titans wilted or the Chargers found something that was missing the months before, and I don't care. What I do know is that San Diego found a way to win a big game on the road, and that should make the Bolts more formidable if and when they hit the highway for the playoffs.
"If we're going to win a game in the playoffs, this is the kind of game it's got to be," said center Nick Hardwick. "It's not going to be pretty. I don't think any Super Bowl or playoff game is pretty. They're dogfights, but you have to get through it."
Which is why this Chargers' victory is more significant than most of their others. I know they've been on a roll lately, winning their last three and seven of their last nine, but they hadn't beaten an opponent of consequence on the road.
Not until now.
"That's one thing we can acknowledge," said Gates. "This was like a playoff game to them and to us. We were both sitting there at 7-5, and, at some point, we had to win a big game on the road. We had to play a tough team like Tennessee and win."
Sure, it wasn't easy. Nothing really has been for this Chargers team. But they won, and that's all that matters. OK, so it's how they won that matters, too. Because if anyone thought the Chargers were soft or could be intimidated, they responded with an exclamation point.
They fought back from a 17-3 deficit midway through the fourth quarter, and they did it the hard way -- with Rivers hobbling around, making big plays in the face of a furious pass rush and clinching a critical fourth down on a sensational Chris Chambers reception that came this close to falling incomplete.
