The Denver Broncos thought they were going to have to play a tough finale to clinch the AFC West, but the rival Los Angeles Chargers reverted to the phenomenon known as “Chargering,” making one foolish mistake after another to hand the Houston Texans a 20-16 win.
In some ways, the score of this one almost doesn’t matter. All you need to know about this game is the meaning of the word “Chargering,” which explains exactly how Los Angeles lost this game.
The Chargers put themselves behind the eight ball early, giving up a pair of big plays by the Texans to go down two touchdowns in the first quarter. The first was a 75-yard strike from Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud to receiver Jayden Higgins, while Stroud’s second touchdown toss went for 44 yards to receiver Jaylin Noel.
Much of what followed was the usual Chargers comedy of physical and mental errors. Los Angeles got a field goal in the second quarter, but the Chargers should have had more as they were plagued by dropped passes, crucial penalties and a missed short field goal by kicker Cameron Dicker.
The Chargers did fight back in the second half, however, to make it a game and set themselves up for what’s become their usual sequence of failures. It was Herbert who turned into a running back with LA down 17-3, as he keyed a drive with a 28-yard run, then hit receiver Oronde Gadsden on a one-yard touchdown pass.
The player who really wore the goat horns for this one was Dicker, however. A second Chargers touchdown late in the fourth quarter on a five-yard run by Omarion Hampton with Houston leading 20-10 rshould have brought the Chargers to within a field goal, but Dicker’s missed extra point kept it at 20-16 and eliminated the possibility of a last-minute field goal to tie the game and force overtime.
In the end, though, it didn’t matter. The Texans were the better team on this day, as they proved on their last drive by muscling their way to a pair of first downs, the first on a Chargers defensive penalty (of course), and the second coming on a bullying series of run run by Texans running back Woody Marks.
The Broncos still have work to do to secure the top seed in the AFC, but this game was a Christmas gift that arrived a couple of days late, and it allowed Denver to clinch the AFC West title.