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Bolts hold on at end, aren’t finished

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Sometimes all that matters is the ending.

“It was whoever was going to make the most plays and not fold under the pressure,” Marcus Gilchrist said. “We made one more play than they did.”

And for that glorious cliché – at least on this day -- the Chargers aren’t finished.

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After Gilchrist’s interception at the goal line with a minute remaining saved a 27-24 victory over the St. Louis Rams, the Chargers might just be getting started.

“These are the type of games you build off of,” Gilchrist said. “The blowout wins are great, but when you have to fight, scratch and claw, these type of wins are really what make a team.”

He said it confidently. As did others.

“It has to be,” Eric Weddle said. “

You can certainly see this helping a group believe it is invincible, often the defining trait of a team that finishes a season strong.

What happened Sunday is almost impossible to summarize. A highlight reel of just the bizarre, game-turning plays would take a full minute.

The Chargers blocked a field goal, muffed a punt that led to a touchdown, returned a fumble for a touchdown, intercepted a pass that set up a field goal and had an interception returned 99 yards for a touchdown. That list doesn’t get into the myriad penalties and big gains that continually altered the game’s surreal ebb and flow.

It reached a point where you trusted nothing you saw, wondered what to believe.

And the Chargers were the ones able to look back on it like one recalls a nightmare, sort of still nervous but also laughing.

Really, though, you don’t know about these things.

Last time the Chargers pulled out a victory at the end of a game, they went out the next week and started a three-game losing streak. But that victory was against the Oakland Raiders. This Rams team is good, with victories over Seattle, Denver and San Francisco and a 4-7 overall record against the league’s second-toughest schedule.

It was a comeback victory, the first time in four chances the Chargers won this season when trailing at halftime.

And then, after going from down 10-6 at halftime to up 20-10 and then having the lead trimmed to 20-17 and then going up 27-17 and then seeing the lead cut to 27-24 and having St. Louis move to within four yards of the end zone, it was a hold-on victory.

“To overcome all that stuff, is going to be big for us,” Weddle said, “because it gives you the confidence if things aren’t going well or we get down early we can come back from it. We can look back on this.”

So while you are tempted to dwell on how disastrous this could have been had Gilchrist not stepped in front of that ill-advised pass by Shaun Hill, you must remember it wasn’t devastating.

It was practically divine.

In the Chargers’ defensive huddle, as the Rams faced a second-and-goal from the 4-yard line with 1:03 to play, it was mentioned that St. Louis was already assured of three points, which would tie the game. Someone asserted, “We’ve got to make a play to end it.”

And then they did.

Gilchrist, who had been beaten trying to play catch-up on a beauty of a touchdown pass from Hill to Stedman Bailey that pulled the Rams to within three points with 2:04 remaining, saw Hill was preparing to throw a pass across the middle, came off his man and snagged the ball.

“That’s the most important play -- the last play,” Brandon Flowers said. “He made a play to get a win for us.”

Gilchrist recalled thinking this immediately after the play: “Thank you, Lord!”

That was likely the same reaction as many fans.

As Gilchrist sprinted to midfield in celebration, his teammates and coaches jumped and hugged on the sideline. Three Philip Rivers kneel downs later, the Chargers (7-4) had won their second straight game.

In doing so, they remained solidly in the AFC playoff race. With five games remaining – all against teams with winning records – the Chargers sit a game behind the Denver Broncos in the AFC West and are one of five four-loss teams vying for two wild card spots.

“It felt like a playoff game,” Weddle said. “It’s eerily similar to last year, how every game is going to be playoff-style football . . . This was as intense as those games get.

On this day, the Chargers made the wild ending go their way. Now they move on to the on to the rest of their wild ending.

Chargers v. Rams 11/23/2014

  • San Diego 27. St Louis 24.
  • Qualcomm Stadium
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