Seahawks Add to Chargers’ Misery

Rookie Rian Lindell was the Seattle Seahawks’ hero at a time when they desperately needed one.

Lindell’s 48-yard field goal as time expired ended the Seahawks’ losing streak at five games, giving them a 17-15 victory over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday.

“I knew I hit it well, it had good rotation, I was just hoping it would get there,” Lindell said.

The Chargers dropped to 0-9, losing their second consecutive game on a field goal in the final seconds. Oakland’s Sebastian Janikowski beat San Diego, 15-13, with 13 seconds left last week.

San Diego has lost five games by three points or fewer.

“It’s sickening to lose another game like that,” Coach Mike Riley said.

San Diego had 398 total yards to Seattle’s 128. The Chargers also had a big advantage in possession time, holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes.

“I constantly was looking at the scoreboard,” San Diego safety Rodney Harrison said. “They had 77 yards and 14 points. You can’t go by the stats.”

Seattle Coach Mike Holmgren said, “We were lousy on offense. We’re not playing with any confidence.”

On a third-and-16 from the San Diego 37, Jon Kitna eluded a tackle by Neil Smith and threw an 18-yard pass to Darrell Jackson to put the Seahawks in field-goal range on the game-winning drive.

The Chargers took a 15-14 lead with 5:40 left on John Carney’s 28-yard field goal.

Moses Moreno came off the bench to replace the injured Jim Harbaugh at quarterback and drive the Chargers 73 yards in 14 plays to position Carney for his third field goal of the day.

Harbaugh, who completed 22 for 32 passes for 236 yards, said he had to come out of the game because of a pulled muscle in his abdomen. He said he injured it in practice Thursday and aggravated it in the game.

“It came to the point where I couldn’t get anything on the ball,” said Harbaugh.

Two fumbled snaps between Roman Fortin and Harbaugh led to two touchdowns that gave the Seahawks (3-7) a 14-3 lead.