Chargers 24 - Chiefs 21
One of the most hotly contested games I've ever been involved with, including one of the wildest endings I've ever seen in Madden (we'll get to that shortly). Nine total turnovers, several late lead changes, this game had it all.
You could tell what kind of game it would be from the start when the Chiefs fumbled the opening kickoff. The Chargers were unable to put up more than 3 however and the Chiefs dominated the rest of the first half, including two Rivers picks (one at the goalline) to take a 14-3 halftime lead.
The Chargers came out in the 2nd half determined to make it interesting, and were able to do so on the first play, with Rivers finding Jackson deep for a 78 yard strike. The teams were trading turnovers at this point so it was kind of hard to keep track, but the Chargers added another TD on a Matthews run to give them a 17-14 lead after 3. The Chiefs got the ball back but Hargrove threw another pick (his 3rd of 4, all in the 2nd half, we'll get to the 4th in a bit) giving the Chargers the chance to run out the clock. They managed one first down, however were forced to punt when Santana Moss dropped a key 3rd down pass (this is going to become a theme as well). The punt could not have gone much worse, as the Chiefs took it to the house to give them a 21-17 lead with 1:44 left. The ensuing Chargers possession ended in Rivers' 4th pick, and then things got really wild...
With the game on the line, the Chargers stuffed Charles on the first down run and used their first time out. The Chiefs elected to come out and pass on 2nd down in what proved to be a fatal mistake as a nearly invisible Nathan Vasher (I didn't even see him there) picked off a pass over the middle. The Chargers then had about a minute to get a touchdown and used pretty much the whole thing, including a clutch 4th and 10 conversion by Santana Moss (atoning for his earlier drop) and an absolutely insane catch by Jackson over double coverage to get them to the 1 with about 20 seconds left. Moss then had ANOTHER drop, this time for the go-ahead touchdown, going back in the doghouse again but he atoned moments later with the go-ahead score.
The Chargers squibbed it with 11 seconds left (probably not a great decision since he only needed a FG, but I was skittish from the PR) and a great pass to Charles managed to get them into FG range, but the attempt was no good (clearly kicking lag) and gave the Chargers the nailbiter win.
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gg Sprice! This one was one heart attack after another, there are way too many highlights to even know which ones to upload, or I'd upload them all. Sucks it had to end on a lagged kick, I'm sure OT would have been epic too.
Chargers finish up the season at 9-7, which I suppose is respectable given the early hole they were in. Most importantly we managed to avoid going 0-6 in the Division of Doom by grabbing this win. This will be a second consecutive 9 win season (last year 9-6-1) for the Chargers which will be good enough for 4th in the AFC West. Realignment anyone?
