Chargers find another new and inventive way to lose in Week 13
By Travis Wakeman
The Los Angeles Chargers just keep finding new ways to lose football games.
It is why fans of the team have long said things like “only the Chargers” and “that’s a new way to Charger it”. Sunday was a new chapter in that as the Chargers lost their eighth game of the season. All eight losses have been decided by seven points or less.
It has been a shocking freefall for a team that went to the divisional round of the playoffs last year and was expected to do be a serious contender this year. Now, the Chargers are likely to have a top 10 pick in the draft.
The Denver Broncos got off to a hot start in this one with rookie Drew Lock making his first career start. He threw two early touchdowns to Courtland Sutton and the Broncos got up 14-0. However, the Chargers battled back and tied the game 17-17 and then again at 20-20 following a 46-yard field goal from Michael Badgley with just seconds left in the game.
But with eight seconds to go, Lock, instead of taking a knee and settling for overtime, took a shot down the field and Sutton was interfered with by Casey Hayward. It ended up being a 37-yard penalty, moving the Broncos into field-goal range with just three seconds on the clock.
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Brandon McManus came out and banged home a 53-yard field goal as time expired, sending the Chargers to 4-8 on the season and almost certainly on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
Philip Rivers rebounded from a rough start that included a terrible interception and finished the game 20-of-29 passing for 265 yards and two touchdowns. Melvin Gordon ran for 99 yards and Mike Williams had a big day with five catches for 117 yards, including an insane catch on a 4th-and-11 play to set up the game-tying field goal.
The Chargers go on the road next Sunday to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in a battle of 4-8 teams.