Love’s Lost for Ross on the Field

Junior Seau loves Bobby Ross. Still, he was happy to help send his former coach to defeat Sunday.

Seau led a San Diego defense that shut out Detroit in the second half, and Darryll Lewis returned a fumble 42 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead the Chargers to a 20-10 victory over the Detroit Lions.

“Bobby Ross and I have a great tie and we had a lot of great games together,” said Seau, who made 12 tackles and had two of San Diego’s six sacks.

This was the first meeting between Ross and the Chargers since he was forced to resign from San Diego three seasons ago.

“It was a weird feeling seeing him and his staff,” Seau said.

Ross appeared to have the game going his way when the Lions (2-2) had a 10-3 lead midway through the second quarter. But it was all Chargers (3-1) after that.

“We went out there and played a great game,” Seau said. “Against adverse conditions, we went out there and stuck it in there. We had to wait a while for our offense to get going.”

Neither offense was that effective, with the Chargers getting 256 yards and the Lions 229.

Tremayne Stephens, one of three backs filling in for injured Charger running back Natrone Means, tied it 10-10 with a three-yard touchdown run with 42 seconds left in the half.

John Carney, who kicked a 33-yard field goal in the second quarter, gave San Diego a 13-10 lead with a 24-yarder in the third.

Carney missed a 47-yarder in the fourth quarter, giving the Lions the ball at their 38. But three plays later, Cory Schlesinger was hit by Rodney Harrison on a sweep pitch and fumbled. The ball was picked up by Lewis, who ran down the San Diego sideline for the touchdown with 7:52 left.