Chargers Had Hoped to Clinch, but It Was Not a Cinch : Pro football: Instead of pointing fingers, San Diego gives the Raiders all the credit in big loss.
Fans dressed in blue with lightning bolts on their clothes came in record numbers to Jack Murphy Stadium on Monday night to watch their beloved Chargers clinch the AFC West Division title against the hated rivals from Los Angeles.
What they witnessed, instead, was an old-fashioned beating that was punctuated by pass-rushing specialist Aaron Wallace’s sack of Stan Humphries of San Diego on the game’s final play.
“They just came in here and gave us a sound wuppin’,” said San Diego safety Stanley Richard of the Raiders’ 24-17 victory. “They played sound football and kept us off balance the whole game. You have to give them credit.”
The Chargers did not blame anyone or anything for their loss. They only wanted to credit the Raiders for spoiling their planned division-clinching party.
“We missed a golden opportunity,” San Diego Coach Bobby Ross said. “They just whipped us. They beat us in about every fashion of the game.”
So what happened?
Didn’t overachieving San Diego start the weekend sky-high and tied for the best record in the AFC at 9-3? Didn’t the underachieving Raiders crawl into the game at 6-6 after an 18-point loss at home to Pittsburgh?
“We can’t make any excuses because they were the better team today,” linebacker Junior Seau said. “This game hurts. It definitely hurts.”
San Diego’s problems started on the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage when Jeff Hostetler threw to Alexander Wright on a 76-yard touchdown bomb to put the Raiders up, 7-0, before many of their fans shook their first white rally flag.
“On that opening play, we just got totally fooled,” Ross said. “We were really out of sync coverage-wise.”
The player who was really surprised was Richard, who decided to chase tight end Andrew Glover across the field instead of retreating to help cornerback Dwayne Harper cover Wright.
“That play really tells the story about how we played,” Richard said.
“It was lack of discipline on my part because I’ve seen that play too many times not to recognize it. I was trying to make something happen, instead of doing my job.”
Breakdowns cost the Chargers all night.
In the third quarter with the score tied at 17, San Diego was threatening with a long, 13-play drive. But Natrone Means fumbled after being hit by Chester McGlockton and Anthony Smith at the Raider 21.
“I pretty much cost us,” said Means, who finished with 41 yards in 18 carries. “It happened so fast. I didn’t know what happened. The ball just came out.”
Another missed opportunity came in the fourth quarter when the Chargers had the ball at their 44-yard line with 3:00 left. Normally, San Diego turns to talented back Ronnie Harmon in such a situation, but not Monday night.
On first down, Humphries passed to Means for six yards. On second, Means ran up the middle for one yard. On third and fourth downs, Humphries threw incomplete to wide receiver Mark Seay.
“Right now, there’s a combination of things going wrong for us,” said Harmon, who caught four passes for 40 yards.
“It’s not just one thing. We’re not playing good football right now and the Raiders showed that tonight.”
Next week, San Diego’s task does not get easier as they must play host to the San Francisco 49ers.
Instead of clinching against the Raiders, the Chargers might be looking at a battle to have a home game in the playoffs.
“Obviously, there’s a lot to be worked on,” Ross said.
“What you have to do more than anything is put that behind you and get on to the next ballgame. We can still win it, but it isn’t going to be easy.”