SAN DIEGO — A reporter asked Philip Rivers this week about the 2007 AFC Championship game, when the Chargers came up short against the Patriots.
“Which one?” Rivers asked. “They run into other years.”
The Chargers’ playoff failures have blended together over the last six seasons. They’ve been one of the elite teams in the NFL since 2004, winning 67 games, third to the Colts (77) and Patriots (73) in that span. They have won the AFC West five of the last six seasons. Yet whenever the calendar flips to January, the Chargers find a way to stumble.
This year, the Chargers hope to change that script, beginning with today’s AFC Divisional game against the Jets.
The Chargers know their reputation. They can’t win the big one.
“We have heard that for years,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson said. “Our approach to that is just to play. Let’s prove it on the field. We went through that process where we used to talk about it we’re past that. We’re going to prove what we can do on the field.”
The failures have been due to a variety of reasons, from odd occurrences to missed field goals to injuries. They’ve come under Marty Schottenheimer first, then Norv Turner. Both head coaches have reputations for choking at key spots.
The struggles started in the 2004 playoffs when the Jets won 20-17 in overtime after usually reliable kicker Nate Kaeding missed a game-winning field goal attempt. Two years later the Patriots beat them in San Diego after Marlon McCree fumbled a fourth-quarter interception. The Pats tied the game on the ensuing drive and later won on a field goal. Injuries sabotaged their playoff runs in the last two years, with Tomlinson and Rivers both playing hurt.
The Chargers are healthy this year. Only punter Mike Scifres appeared on this week’s injury report. They come into today’s game riding an 11-game winning streak, the hottest team in football.
The core group of Chargers, who have been through these playoff stumbles, know this could be their last ride together. Tomlinson is not expected back next year. Neither is linebacker Shawne Merriman.
“I think it’s in the back of all of our minds,” Merriman said. “I think we all want to achieve this goal while we’re together, not because we’re worrying about everybody breaking this up but because we have so much love and respect for each other in this locker room.”