Playoff Thread: Chargers trail Bengals 10-7 at Halftime

This game already feels an awful lot like the San Diego Chargers loss to the Cincinnati Bengals a month ago.

The offense seems to be playing good, but they've gone 10 yards or less on 4 of their 5 drives so far. Philip Rivers has completed 5 of 6 passes, but is on pace for 96 total passing yards.

The defense has been pretty terrible, but came through with a huge turnover with 2 minutes left in the half to avoid going into the half losing to the Bengals.

That's when the Chargers "turtled", running it 3 times for about 2 total yards before punting it back to the Bengals to face the same San Diego defense that hasn't been able to stop them most of the game. It was a move made out of fear. Fear of a Philip Rivers mistake, be it a turnover or a costly sack. Scared of your team's best player is no way to coach a playoff game and it could easily end up coasting the Chargers coaching staff.

Cincinnati gets the ball to start the second half. If the Chargers are going to get the lead back at any point in this game, they'll need John Pagano's defense to have one of those inexplicable runs of forced 3 & Outs. We've seen it before, so it's possible, but it's just as likely that the Bengals have a 10 point lead the next time Philip Rivers gets the ball.