Chargers Bolt Past the Bengals : Pro football: Ninth victory in last 10 games, a 27-10 decision, puts the Chargers one away from clinching a playoff berth.
Junior Seau was only 12 years old at the time.
Gary Plummer was a walk-on nose tackle at California, and Gill Byrd was still a young man the last time the Chargers won nine football games in a season.
“If it’s a dream,” Plummer said, “don’t pinch me.”
The Chargers overcame a slow start for a second consecutive week and scored 24 unanswered points to topple Cincinnati, 27-10, in front of 50,579 fans Sunday in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.
The Chargers (9-5) won nine of their last 10 and racked up nine victories for the first time since 1981. With one more victory, they will clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 1982.
“Before the game I went up to Leslie O’Neal and Junior Seau and thanked them for helping to make this happen,” said Plummer, who emerged from the game with his second career interception. “They are two of the most integral parts of success on this team. I’m glad my career didn’t end before I enjoyed this success.”
For players such as Plummer, Byrd and linebacker Billy Ray Smith, who remains on injured reserve, defeat has been a nagging companion. General managers, head coaches and teammates have come and gone, and now the Chargers have become the AFC’s hottest team.
“It’s pretty nice,” Seau said, “to see that the success is happening when they are still alive.”
Laughs all around, all right, and it hasn’t always been that way in the Charger locker room. In the past four years the Chargers won 22 games and lost 42. They were 4-12 last year, and 0-4 to begin this season, but now they have the chance to become the first team in NFL history to recover from such a start and make the playoffs.
“It’s nice to win nine games in one year instead of having to try and do it over two years,” tackle Broderick Thompson said. “We’ve had guys plugging along year after year without getting any reward for it, and I don’t know if this was dedicated to them or not, but they deserve this feeling.”
The Chargers averaged a season-high 7.2 yards per offensive play against Cincinnati’s 27th-ranked defense and could have overworked the scoreboard crew if not for a pair of turnovers in the first half.
The Bengals, 14-point underdogs, intercepted a pair of Stan Humphries’ passes, including one in the end zone, to hang tough.
“I thought Anthony Miller had beat the cornerback (Darryl Williams) and I just threw it up on the first one,” Humphries said. “On the second one in the end zone, the guy (David Fulcher) just made a great catch.”
The Chargers consumed 9:05 on the game’s opening drive but were forced to settle for a John Carney 21-yard field goal on fourth and goal from the three-yard line.
After the Bengals returned Carney’s kickoff to the 17-yard line, quarterback David Klingler threw an 83-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jeff Query.
“I lost the wide guy because I concentrated a little too long on the inside guy,” said Charger safety Darren Carrington, who was starting in place of injured Stanley Richard (quadriceps muscle). “I found out the wide guy runs pretty well--but then everyone saw that.”
Cincinnati had a 7-3 lead and then added a 48-yard Jim Breech field goal in the second quarter.
“There’s no panic anymore when we get behind,” Thompson said. “In years past, if we went down 14-0 or 10-0, we knew we were going to lose. But now there’s a lot of confidence here, and we know it’s going to turn in our favor.”
The Chargers overcame a 14-point deficit in Phoenix last week, and like the days when Ron Lynn coached the Charger defense, his Bengal defense allowed a score on the final drive of the first half.
Humphries completed five of seven passes, including an 11-yard touchdown throw to wide receiver Anthony Miller with 15 seconds remaining.
“I haven’t been nervous with this team,” guard David Richards said. “We have the ability to come back at any time because we have the quarterback that can throw the ball and some real dynamic guys in our receiving corps.”
After tying the game, the Chargers began pulling away in the third quarter. A one-yard bootleg by Humphries gave the Chargers a 17-10 lead, and after Plummer intercepted a Klingler pass at the Bengals’ 18, Rod Bernstine went the final seven yards for a 24-10 Charger advantage.
“Stan Humphries has been picking defenses apart,” said Bernstine, who ran 11 times for 33 yards in his first appearance since undergoing shoulder surgery Oct. 19. “He’s a leader, he’s making the plays and he was a great acquisition.”
Seau tipped a Klingler pass on the opening play of the fourth quarter, and Carrington grabbed it for his team-leading fifth interception this season. Four plays later, the Chargers finished off the game’s scoring on Carney’s 48-yard field goal--his eighth consecutive field-goal attempt without a miss.
“It’s just a great feeling to win nine games and be in this position,” Plummer said. “It’s an early Christmas present, but then there’s definitely unfinished business. It’s not just good enough to have a winning season.”
The Chargers need only one more victory to gain a wild-card berth, and still have a chance to win their first AFC West title since 1981, if they can win on the road against the Raiders and Seahawks, while the Chiefs stumble on against either the Giants (away) or the Broncos (at home).
“Right now we’re going to try and win it all,” Seau said. “We don’t just want to settle for a wild-card berth. We’re going for the whole thing. The attitude has changed around here.”
The Chargers defeated the Seahawks earlier this season, 17-6, and they blasted the Raiders on Sunday night, 27-3.
“We would like to win our remaining two and have a shot at the division title, but it’s going to be a tough game up in L.A.,” Plummer said. “I would encourage every Charger fan in San Diego County to make that drive up I-5.”