<\/div>\n<\/p>\n
No, it’s true. <\/span>Seriously, I swear, it’s true—the Chargers, who were 4-8 just four weeks ago, are not only in the playoffs, but will be hosting the Indianapolis Colts next Saturday at 5pm. <\/span>From 4-8 to hosting the Colts. <\/span>We have seen the face of the NFL in 2008, and it is glorious, if a little confusing. <\/span>I’ll try and do my best to capture one of the best environments I’ve ever seen a game in, and maybe try to explain just how exactly THE CHARGERS ARE HOSTING THE COLTS in the playoffs this week. <\/span>As always, View From The Q contains uncredited and unappreciated wit and insight from Ryan “Leaky Pipes” Thies, Shar “My Wife” Higa, and JJ “Dumping The Show To Sally” Fiddler. <\/span>Let’s proceed.<\/p>\n \n 1. So on Tuesday, I was at the Q for the Boise State vs. TCU game, at the conclusion of which, LT was standing on the Chargers’ sideline, smiling as his alma mater beat the Broncos. <\/span>We were rooting for BSU, but I took this as a good sign.<\/p>\n 2. Before we get going, let’s clear this up: this wasn’t a week 17 game as much as it was the first game of the postseason. <\/span>As the Sunday night game, it was technically the final game of the regular season—but it was, as Faith Hill announced via BoltVision, “Win or go home.” <\/span>The atmosphere, the noise, the camera flashes, and the excitement all screamed January, in a good way.<\/p>\n 3. Random jersey spot: Bolts jersey, number “1,” with the name reading “A.J. Smith.” <\/span>That’s a man who knows his football. <\/span>That or it’s A.J., and he has a bigger ego than I thought.<\/p>\n 4. The Bolts stall on the first drive, as usual. <\/span>Then the Broncos march right down the field and score a TD. <\/span>Whuh-whoa. <\/span><\/p>\n 5. The playcalling on this game is much more aggressive than we’ve seen this Chargers’ O look before—the reverse to start, a good mix of play actions and runs, throwing to Manumaleuna, mixing Darren in. <\/span>Can’t remember the last time Pipes and I were actually kept guessing on what play we’d be running—usually you just follow Manumaleuna, and assume we’re running to whichever side he motions to.<\/p>\n 6. DID LT JUST MAKE TWO GUYS MISS?! <\/span>What year is this?<\/p>\n 7. Halftime: Well. <\/span>Okay then. <\/span>We’re up 24-6, the crowd is quite possibly the best crowd we’ve seen here in three years, including playoff games, and the place is jumping right now. <\/span>The air is actually a little electric. <\/span>But it’s a three-score game with thirty minutes to play, and if the very fact that we’re in a game with playoff implications right now has proven anything, it’s that anything is possible.<\/p>\n 8. And sure enough, a Broncs TD to start the second half. <\/span>Honestly, I don’t think our D looks good, even with the pick at the end of the half—if they were running the ball (which they’re doing to the tune of nearly ten yards per-carry on the five times they’ve done it), I get the feeling this would be a lot closer than 24-13.<\/p>\n 9. And, displaying the grit we’d been looking for all season, the Bolts take it right back down the field and punch it in, on a nice Sproles scamper. <\/span>The game is back under control, and this stadium is literally shaking. <\/span>Texts to Shar and my mom and aunt in St. Louis confirm that the vibrations are forcing their way through America’s televisions. <\/span><\/p>\n 10. The Cutler diabetes jokes have begun to rain down, as the QB has visibly shrunken under the pressure. <\/span>I think I see people throwing sugar packets. <\/span>You stay classy, San Diego.<\/p>\n 11. <\/span>End of the game—52-21, Rivers has now had the best season of any QB in Bolts history, LT looks healthy, Sproles has proven why he needs to be a 15-touch back, and, somehow, we’re hosting the Colts next week. <\/span>I overhear no less than five people on their phones figuring out how much money they can borrow to make sure they’re here next week.<\/p>\n 12. Before I go screaming and losing my voice again, consider this numerology. <\/span>We were looking for our 8th<\/sup> win, to put us in the playoffs. <\/span>We scored on 8 drives (of ten total, with only one punt), and the first two TD drives, which gave us the lead we never lost, both took 8 plays. <\/span>I don’t know what the lesson there is, but it’s something.<\/p>\n 13. Check back later this week for a slightly less delirious preview of the upcoming Colts\/Bolts matchup. <\/span>Hint: I think we should use Sproles. <\/span>A lot.<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" No, it’s true. Seriously, we swear–the Chargers, who were 4-8 just four weeks ago, are hosting the Colts next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-5081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5081\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5081"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=5081"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}