Bahr Misses ‘Gimme’; Jets Win : New York: Overtime avoided when Charger placekicker misfires from 37 yards.

In a season full of disappointment, the New York Jets finally caught a break.

They played the San Diego Chargers Sunday and came away with a 20-17 victory when Charger place-kicker Chris Bahr missed a 37-yard field goal that would have sent the game into overtime.

“I figured it was a ‘gimme.’ We got a good break for a change,” Jet quarterback Pat Ryan said of Bahr’s field-goal try, which came with 10 seconds remaining.

Bahr, who earlier converted a 39-yard field goal, said he just misfired on the second attempt.

“Everything was fine but I just didn’t hit it good,” Bahr said. “I hit behind the ball and didn’t get it solidly.”

Jet Coach Joe Walton suggested penetration by the Jets on the field-goal try contributed to Bahr’s miss.

“We’ve been getting good pressure from our field-goal defense all year,” Walton said.

The Jets won their second in a row to improve to 4-9. San Diego also is 4-9.

Jet running back Roger Vick helped to make up for the injury-related loss of quarterback Ken O’Brien by running for two fourth-quarter touchdowns.

Vick’s first touchdown, a one-yard run, came with 9:19 left to play and put the Jets on top, 14-10.

It followed a seven-play, 47-yard drive led by Ryan, who played the final two quarters in place of O’Brien after the Jets starter suffered a jammed shoulder when sacked late in the second period.

On the ensuing Chargers’ possession, safety Erik McMillan intercepted Billy Joe Tolliver’s pass and returned it 40 yards to the Chargers 16-yard line.

Two plays later, Vick scored on a 14-yard run to give the Jets a 10-point advantage. Pat Leahy’s extra point try was wide left. It was his first miss after 106 PAT successes dating to Week 14 of the 1985 season.

San Diego pulled to within three points when Tolliver threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miller with 3:25 remaining.

San Diego forced a Jet punt and got the ball back at its own 44 with two minutes remaining. Five pass completions and a run by Darrin Nelson advanced the Chargers to the Jets’ 19 and Bahr came on for the ill-fated field goal attempt.

Said Tolliver: “Chris is an excellent kicker. But sometimes you do it and sometimes you don’t. It just seemed today that we were snakebit and we were born to lose.”

The Jets defense, ranked last in the league entering the game, also was tough on Tolliver, a rookie who started ahead of Jim McMahon.

Tolliver, making only his second appearance of the season after a dismal NFL debut five weeks ago, was sacked five times and threw two interceptions.

“I was mediocre at best,” Tolliver said. “In the final analysis, the interception (to McMillan) I threw cost us the game and I’ve got to live with it.”

He completed 24 of 51 throws for 230 yards. Against Seattle on Oct. 29, Tolliver completed only six of 17 throws for 41 yards with one interception.

“(Tolliver) played awful in the first half and he knows it,” Charger Coach Dan Henning said. “I was getting on him pretty good on the sidelines.

“He was starting to make some progress and at the end he was throwing the ball sharply, making good decisions and using the clock well. I just wish we could have got it into overtime to get him some more work.”

The Chargers’ defense also registered five sacks and intercepted Jets quarterbacks three times, but Jets’ running back Johnny Hector gained 106 yards on 20 carries while Vick added 76 yards on 16 carries.

Hector’s performance marked the first time a Jets back has surpassed 100 yards this season.

Bahr’s 39-yard field goal with 2:07 left in the third period had given San Diego a 10-7 lead.

The kick followed a 10-play, 50-yard drive that began after Chargers defensive back Lester Lyles intercepted a pass by Ryan at the San Diego 28.

Tolliver converted two third-and-10 plays on the drive, a 13-yard completion to Jamie Holland and a 30-yard pass to Miller that advanced the ball to the Jets’ 28.

San Diego failed to make a first down and Bahr then came on for the field goal.

A 40-yard run by rookie Marion Butts with 5:01 remaining in the second quarter pulled the Chargers into a halftime tie at 7-7.

The seventh-round draft choice out of Florida State smashed up the middle and started breaking tackles, six in all, en route to the score. In the final yards, he shook one defender off his back, eluded a second and stepped out of the grasp of a third before going into the end zone standing up.

“It was very exciting,” said Butts, crediting blocks by tackle Joel Patten and tight end Arthur Cox for helping to spring him.

“If you feel it inside, you can almost be invincible,” Butts added.

The Jets opened the scoring late in the first period when Hector took a flat pass from O’Brien near the line of scrimmage and ran nine yards for a touchdown.

JoJo Townsell’s 30-yard punt return allowed the Jets to begin the drive at the Chargers’ 47 and O’Brien completed four of his next five passes ending in the toss to Hector.

Both the Jets and Chargers had problems moving the ball as each club’s defense registered four first-half sacks.

O’Brien completed nine of 21 throws for 81 yards before being injured.

Ryan finished with three completions in 11 attempts for 36 yards with two interceptions.

Tolliver was erratic throughout, completing only 10 of 22 passes for 104 yards with an interception in the first half.