Resilient Chargers win thriller

Sunday, Nov 12, 2006
By Casey Pearce, Chargers.com

Emotional. Magical. Unusual. Gutsy.  Perplexing.

Once the high fives, hugs and shouts of joy subsided in the Chargers’ locker room Sunday, there was no shortage of ways to describe the NFL’s highest scoring game this season.

“It was almost like it was a cartoon or something,” said running back LaDainian Tomlinson, who rushed for 104 yards and produced his second four-touchdown game of the season.  “Animated for some reason.  It was very emotional.”

After finding themselves in a 28-7 hole after two quarters, the Chargers responded by scoring 42 points in the second half and made just enough plays on the defensive side of the ball to claim a 49-41 win over the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday.  The game marked the team’s biggest comeback victory in its history, tying a 21-point comeback win in Seattle in 1983, and kept San Diego tied for first place in the AFC West.

“You had a group of guys who believed in one another through adversity and found a way,” wide receiver Keenan McCardell said.  “Everybody made plays.  It was a great team win. That’s what we needed. If we want to get where we want to, we needed to play a crazy game like that and win as a team.”

Playing without two key starters in Shawne Merriman and Luis Castillo, the Chargers struggled to pressure Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer, and he made them pay.  The former Heisman Trophy winner completed his first nine passes and by halftime had already thrown for 282 yards and two touchdown passes.

Eight of his 20 first-half completions went for at least 15 yards, including a 51-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Chad Johnson, who finished the day with a team-record 260 yards to go with 11 catches and two touchdowns.

“We had several breakdowns in our coverage,” safety Marlon McCree said.  “They weren’t beating us in man, we just blew some assignments.  That was frustrating.”

Inspired by what players described as a fiery halftime speech by Head Coach Marty Schottenheimer, the Chargers came out with a vengeance in the third quarter. 

After getting a defensive stop on Cincinnati’s first drive of the second half, quarterback Philip Rivers led his offense 69 yards in just six plays to make it a 28-14 game.  The Bolts’ defense immediately delivered their first three-and-out of the game, and on the first play following Kyle Larson’s punt, Rivers connected with Malcom Floyd for a 46-yard touchdown.

“When you have something like that happen (in the first half), you either sit there and continue to get the crap beat out of you or you step up and make plays,” Goff said.  “We came out and were aggressive.  You realize you’re not doing it for yourself.  Everybody just got on the same page.”

Following a Shayne Graham field goal, Rivers made it three-for-three on third-quarter drives when he punctuated a nine-play, 80-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brandon Manumaleuna. 

But as quickly as it became a one-possession game, the Bengals pushed the lead back to 10.  On the first play of their ensuing drive following Manumaleuna’s catch, Palmer hit Johnson down the sideline for a 74-yard touchdown.

“It was one of those games where we just said, ‘Let’s keep scoring and see what happens,’” Rivers said.  “We knew it was going to take a lot of points to pull this one out.  We just kept going out there and plugging away.”

The deficit was back to three points when Tomlinson’s third touchdown of the day made it a 38-35 game following the first play of the fourth quarter.

Then came the big defensive play that the Chargers had been looking for all afternoon.  On 1st-and-10 from the Cincinnati 20-yard line, linebacker Shaun Phillips sacked Palmer, forced him to fumble and recovered the loose ball.  Tomlinson needed one play to score from nine yards out, giving the Chargers a 42-38 lead.  

The drama would continue.  After Graham hit a 44-yard field goal to make it a one-point game, Rivers took the field with the poise of a 10-year veteran and delivered what tight end Antonio Gates called “a little magic.”  Rivers capped a 12-play, 72-yard drive by flipping the ball to Manumaleuna for a five-yard touchdown, giving the Chargers a 49-41 advantage.   

With 2:29 remaining in the game, Palmer had one last chance to deliver another long drive.  Completions to Johnson from 22 and 12 yards put the ball at the San Diego 15 yard line, but after four misfires, Rivers came back on the field to take a knee and sew up a 49-41 thriller.  

“I’ve said it before: this is a very resilient team,” Tomlinson said.  “To be on the road down 21-0, a lot of teams would go in the tank and say, ‘Let’s forget about today.  There’s no way we’re going to win this game.’  We believed that once we got it going that we could win it.  You’re never out of a ballgame.  I think we proved it today.”

Palmer finished 31-for-42 for 440 yards and three touchdowns as the Bengals racked up 545 yards of total offense.  Rivers’ numbers were nearly as impressive.  He was 24-for-36 for 337 and three touchdowns. 

“Every week he continues to really amaze us,” Tomlinson said of his quarterback.  “He’s a young guy, but he makes so many smart decisions that you expect a young guy not to make.  Every week it’s like he grows more and more.  The guy is playing terrific for us.”

Despite falling behind by 21 points on two different occasions, the 7-2 Chargers made what they felt was a critical statement as they prepare for a first-place showdown next week at Denver. 

“We had to prove to the rest of the league what we were made of,” said Goff, a former Bengal.  “It was huge that we came out and responded with a victory. There was never a sense of panic.  We believed in each other and got the job done.”