The Life of Riley This Isn’t
Standing on a podium answering questions about yet another San Diego loss, Charger Coach Mike Riley could only shake his head and laugh.
“We have just about found every way we can to lose a game,” Riley said. “It’s just sad.”
The sad fact might be that the this team is what Riley is stuck with, and vice versa, now that the USC coaching situation is resolved and the Charger coach assured that he’ll be back with San Diego next season.
The Chargers looked to be on their way to a rare victory Sunday, but eventually reverted to the miscues and mistakes that have made them the worst team in the NFL. The result was a 30-22 loss to Carolina Panthers.
“You could probably sum up [the season] with some of the stuff we did today,” Riley said. “Our team tries, but the point is that you just can’t do what we did and win football games against anybody.”
Iheanyi Uwaezuoke returned a punt 64 yards for a third-quarter touchdown and Doug Evans returned a blocked field goal 54 yards for a fourth-quarter touchdown to rally the Panthers (7-8).
With the loss, the Chargers (1-14) clinched the worst record in the league and the top pick in the draft. They close the season next Sunday against Pittsburgh, and another loss would make them only the sixth team to lose 15 games since the schedule expanded to 16 games in 1978.
Asked if getting up for next Sunday’s game would be difficult, linebacker Junior Seau bristled.
“If you gave me another option, we could look at it, but this is the only one we have,” Seau said. “We’re grown men and we get paid for what we do. If we persevere, this thing will turn.”
The Chargers, who got unusually solid play from Ryan Leaf, outgained the Panthers, 358-169, and held Carolina to 11 yards rushing.
They even led, 22-14, late in the third quarter, but that’s when things turned.
The Chargers punted with 1:52 to play in the quarter and Uwaezuoke broke free up the middle for a 64-yard touchdown--Carolina’s first this season. It cut the score to 22-20.
Leaf then had a pass to Freddie Jones intercepted after it bounced off Jones’ chest and into Lee Woodall’s hands at the Charger 36.
That led to Joe Nedney’s 18-yard field goal that put Carolina up, 23-22.
Leaf completed 23 of 43 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns.
Steve Beuerlein completed 12 of 27 passes for 139 yards for Carolina but also threw two touchdown passes.
As promised, backup Jeff Lewis played the second quarter for Carolina. He completed six of 13 passes for 41 yards, but had an interception run back 36 yards for a touchdown by Gerald Dixon.