Chargers again find late-season map to greatness

INDIANAPOLIS — See if you recognize this plot.

Team starts out poorly. Team gains its stride during late November and December. Team wins its division.

It can only be the story of the Chargers, who look like they're using their same old script. A month ago, the Chargers were 2-5, victims of self-destruction and seemingly down for a 10 count. Now, they are only one game out of first place in the AFC West and look hell-bent on finishing with a flourish and winning their fifth consecutive division title.

"We didn't plan to not start well," Chargers coach Norv Turner said after their eye-opening, 36-14 victory at Indianapolis on Sunday night. "We had a lot of injuries. We had some problems. We had young backs mishandling the ball. But we know it's a six-month season, and we work hard to make sure we're building as the year goes on."

It's not a finished product — five games remain in the regular season — but what the Chargers are building looks like it's shaping into a playoff team. They have an opportunity to regain control of the AFC West in the next two weeks, when they face the Raiders and Chiefs, teams they already have lost to, in back-to-back home games.

"It's like a game and a half any time you play a divisional opponent," said Chargers tight end Antonio Gates, who caught four passes for 46 yards against the Colts despite playing with plantar fasciitis. "Every game now is going to be just as important in order for us to continue to make that run for the AFC West championship."

Such a run looks doable. After the Raiders and Chiefs, San Diego will play a third consecutive home game against the 49ers. They then finish the season with what look like winnable road games against the Bengals and Broncos.

It looked bleak a few weeks ago, when the Chargers were imploding on special teams, committing costly turnovers and failing to convert scoring opportunities.

The Chargers have had the league's top-ranked offense and defense for much of the season, but those lofty statistical plateaus don't guarantee wins when there are so many self-inflicting wounds.

"We've said all along, 'Play four quarters of football and give us a chance to win,' " said free safety Eric Weddle, one of two Chargers defenders — linebacker Kevin Burnett was the other — to pick off a Peyton Manning pass and return it for a touchdown Sunday night. "When we were 2-5, we were shooting ourselves in the foot. We're a great team, but when you do that, no matter how great you are, you're going to have an uphill battle from the first quarter."

The Chargers appear to have a playoff recipe. Philip Rivers is a premier quarterback who makes any receiver look good, Mike Tolbert has given the running game a spark (111 and 103 yards in the last two games), and the defense looks solid in all areas, as it showed Sunday night by intercepting Manning four times and holding the defending AFC champion Colts to 14 points at home, where they are 55-14 since 2002.

As he stood in the entrance to the northwest tunnel at Lucas Oil Stadium, watching the final minutes of the game, Chargers general manager A.J. Smith looked like a man who was witnessing another late-season revival.

"Got to finish it. Got to keep going," Smith said. "But we're building momentum."

Here come the Chargers. Right on schedule.
What We Learned

1. Kevin Burnett is in exclusive company. The list of NFL players who have returned two interceptions for touchdowns against Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is a short one, but the Chargers’ sixth-year linebacker is on it. Dropping into coverage on a zone blitz in the second quarter, Burnett made a leaping pick of a Manning pass intended for wide receiver Reggie Wayne and returned it 29 yards for a touchdown. In 2006, when Burnett was with the Cowboys, he intercepted a Manning pass and took it back 39 yards for a score.

3. Who are these guys, Butch and Sundance? With many of his primary receivers unavailable — tight end Dwight Clark and wide receiver Anthony Gonzalez are on injured reserve, and wide receiver Austin Collie was inactive Sunday because of a concussion — Manning has been dialing up some new numbers this season. That would include Jacob Tamme, a third-year tight end who was mostly a special teams player in his first two seasons.

Since Clark was lost in mid-October, Tamme has become one of the Colts' most reliable receivers. He caught seven passes for 64 yards and a touchdown Sunday night, raising his season totals to 38 catches, 369 yards and three TDs. Undrafted rookie wideout Blair White also has stepped up lately. He had a 6-yard scoring catch late in the first half and has 18 receptions for 184 yards and four touchdowns.