Chargers’ win is a win, even when it’s just a win
It was in guard Orlando Franklin lifting Dontrelle Inman after the wide receiver had scored the game’s first touchdown.
It was in teammates mobbing linebacker Manti Te’o after he intercepted a second-quarter pass.
It was in the way Philip Rivers turned and pumped his fist and sprinted for the sideline as fast as his injured toe would allow following the third of his four touchdown passes.
It was in the hand slaps and hugs and smiles – big smiles – in the locker room.
Yes, the Chargers season is a lost cause, a 31-25 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars notwithstanding.
But it was in those moments Sunday that we saw how much a team cherishes every victory in the NFL – and, y’know what, why it’s OK for fans to be happy their team earned just its third victory in 11 games.
Complete coverage: San Diego 31, Jacksonville 25
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- Rivers passes NFL greats, reaches rare air
- Instant analysis: Rivers, Chargers give Mike McCoy a lift
- Report card: Only one “F” grade after victory
- Photos from the game
- Acee: Chargers’ win is a win, even when it’s just a win
- Acee: What? Mike McCoy flexible, fearless, fun?
- Notebook: Antonio Gates helpful despite hip injury
- Chargers-Jags, Quarter by quarter
“We won a game,” Rivers said. “I think it’s like anything, you look at it from afar, you’re looking at the big picture because you’re not putting in the daily preparation, putting all you have into it. We won. It is big.”
Acee-Gehlken Chargers vs Jaguars Analysis
Certainly, these moments have been far too infrequent in 2015. We have spent and will spend much time lamenting that. Also, there were enough dropped passes and missed tackles and penalties and failed runs in this game to see why the Chargers had lost six straight coming in and are 3-8 and in the running for the No.1 pick in the NFL draft.
There shouldn’t be any temptation to take away much more from this game than that it was nice to be playing the Jaguars. Chargers coaches reminded their guys Saturday as they watched their last snippets of film that this was an opponent with many of the same players running the same plays as the one the Chargers beat 33-14 last season.
“Knowing Jacksonville and knowing we beat them helped us a bunch,” Eric Weddle said. “Going against another team we hadn’t beat would have been a different story.”
But, for goodness’ sake, it was a victory.
It’s, uh, why they play the game.
It’s why they walk into the locker room almost every weekday while most of San Diego is still sleeping and often don’t leave until after the nighttime rush hour has thinned. It’s why they spend hours in a dark room watching play after play after play looking for every advantage. It’s why they play with banged up ankles and balky backs and even sometimes, sadly, with fuzzy brains.
“It’s so awesome, it doesn’t matter,” Danny Woodhead said. “It’s nice to have that feeling again. It’s been since Oct. 4 that we won. … In this league, every win is so hard to get. You prepare all week, you put so many hours in. It’s tough. Every time you lose, it hurts. Any time you win, it’s a celebration. That’s the thing about it ... It makes the winning all that much better when you look back on the things you do to get there.”
They have been saying they would not quit. For whatever it’s worth, they proved it with a tangible result.
“Nobody said, ‘Aw, the season is over, let’s hang our heads, let’s not have energy in practice,’ ” Brandon Flowers said. “Everyone kept pushing. We knew if we kept pushing, we’d get a win.”
For those thinking big picture and bottom line, upset that Sunday’s instant gratification came with the long-term price of the Chargers losing control of their spot atop the NFL draft, there is solace in the fact five games remain.
Jacksonville (4-7) is arguably the worst team the Chargers had on their schedule, though the Miami Dolphins (4-7) visit Qualcomm Stadium on Dec. 20.
Further, the Chargers finally winning a game actually only makes the sting of this dreadful season worse. The AFC is a case study in either parity or parody. Just two wins in the previous six contests – maybe the Pittsburgh game in which they never trailed but lost at :00, maybe one more stop against Baltimore or Chicago, one more completion at Green Bay – would have the Chargers at 5-6. That’s a game out of the second wild card spot.
“We’re right in the thick of it,” Rivers said, wistfully, shaking his head. “It’s crazy.”
Alas, the Chargers remain a dreadful side.
Leading 31-19 and needing just to run out the clock when they got the ball back with two minutes, one second remaining, they committed two offensive penalties and had a punt blocked. Jacksonville got to within six points on a touchdown with 1:21 to play.
Only when Stevie Johnson knocked an onside kick out of bounds was the victory sealed.
“We make it interesting,” head coach Mike McCoy said.
But they finally made it a victory.
kevin.acee@sduniontribune.com
