Chargers keep playoff hopes going with 34-7 win over 49ers
Reporting from San Diego — The San Diego Chargers, with their season hanging in the balance, played well enough Thursday to try a variation of their West Coast offense.
The Just Coast.
And the centerpiece of that scheme was Chargers receiver Vincent Jackson, a player who insists he wasn’t coasting this fall when he missed the first 10 games mostly because of a contract dispute. He caught a career-high three touchdown passes — and just missed on a fourth — in a 34-7 dismantling of the San Francisco 49ers at Qualcomm Stadium.
“Since I’ve been here it’s like I’ve never left,” said the 6-foot-5 Jackson, who has played in just two full games, having missed the better part of two with a calf injury. “The guys aren’t worried about my mentality, how I was going to be in my approach. I’ve been excited to play football since I stepped back into the facility.”
It all comes at a good time for the Chargers (8-6), who are coping with injuries to tight end Antonio Gates and receiver Malcom Floyd, and cannot afford to lose again if they intend to catch first-place Kansas City. The Chiefs (8-5) play Sunday at St. Louis. And if the Chargers glance in their rearview mirror they will see Oakland (6-7) on their tail.
Amazingly, San Francisco (5-9) still has a faint pulse in the NFC West, but the 49ers are done if Seattle and St. Louis win this weekend.
As gaudy as San Diego’s offensive numbers were — they had 182 more yards and 13 more first downs than San Francisco, and controlled the ball nearly 15 minutes longer — the most impressive showing came from the defense, which preserved a shutout for the first 55:34 before giving up a cosmetic touchdown.
That, coming off a 31-0 shutout of Kansas City.
“If I had to go seven quarters and 10 minutes without scoring, I’d be going nuts,” Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers marveled. “It’s unbelievable.”
It was a rude homecoming for San Francisco’s Alex Smith, who was Reggie Bush’s quarterback at Helix High in La Mesa. Smith was sacked six times.
“It’s fun when you’re winning and you have a big lead and you’re pinning your ears back and trying to get after the quarterback,” said Chargers defensive end Luis Castillo, who had one of those takedowns. “Because you know you’re up by two or three scores.”
Now, the Chargers can take a deep breath before they close their schedule at Cincinnati the day after Christmas, and at Denver on Jan. 2. Their playoff destiny is out of their hands, yet they have a soft finish should the Chiefs stumble — the Bengals and Broncos are a combined 5-21.
What’s more, they have cleared the hurdle of a Thursday night game — a breathtakingly short week — that stood out on their schedule like a sore thumb … or sore knee, neck, elbow, or foot.
Rivers said a Thursday night game is appealing at first glance because it’s a chance to play on the national stage, “But I think as it gets closer, you realize, man, that late in the year you’re going to be tired. … You’re going to be banged up. It’s coming after a division game, and it’s probably going to be meaningful — and it was.”
It was meaningful to San Francisco’s Justin Smith for a different reason. In a big blow to the 49ers defense, the Pro Bowl end was ejected in the second quarter for shoving an official who was trying to break up a skirmish.
That was one of many frustrating moments for the 49ers, who had an apparent touchdown run by Alex Smith taken off the board when officials looked at the replays and determined he was stopped just short of the goal line. That would have forged a 7-7 tie. On the subsequent fourth-down play, the Chargers stuffed them. “On the inch-yard line,” Smith lamented, “you’ve got to be able to punch it in.”
San Diego drove 90 yards the other direction for a field goal. They almost had a touchdown on a Jackson catch in the back of the end zone, but his second foot was barely out of bounds. So, his final tally was three scores instead of four.
“I’ve got to focus on where I’m at, try to keep my feet in,” Jackson said, then smiled. “Maybe if I wore a size 12 not a 14 it might be in.”
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