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The San Diego Chargers played one of their worst offensive games of the Norv Turner era. Today's loss has all but assured the Chargers of a third straight season without a playoff appearance and likely was the final nail in the coffin of Turner's tenure as Chargers head coach.
The offensive line couldn't open holes for Ryan Mathews or Jackie Battle to run through and they were even less capable of providing Philip Rivers with time to find open receivers. The protection was so bad that when they did give him time, he couldn't trust it to hold up and still rushed his throws.
The defense allowed 24 points, but was still impressive given how little time they were given to rest between defensive series. They also accounted for all nine of the team's scores prior to Denver going into a pseudo prevent defense in the second half of the third quarter. You could tell they had eased up because Meachem caught a pass during the drive.
Marcus Gilchrist had by far his best game of the year and possibly the best game of his career providing adequate to good coverage, bringing pressure as a blitzer, making at least one very good stop on third down and of course tipping the pass that Eric Weddle turned into a pick six on Denver's second offensive possession.
Not even a successful onside kick attempt to open the second half and a sack safety by Shaun Phillips were enough to make this game truly competitive as the offense was completely ineffective for the game's first 40 minutes.
Danario Alexander's touchdown near the end of the 3rd quarter temporarily gave the game the illusion of being close, but it was not to be as Manning marched the Broncos down the field to set up a field goal that made it a two score game again.
The offense wasn't able to mount a scoring drive again until it was too late and the team's last chance to win was gone just like that. Ultimately, the game wasn't nearly as close as the (not even all that close) final score.
Chargers fans are at the point of looking to next year now. Who are your top choices for GM and Head Coach right now?