What went wrong with San Diego Chargers in the 2011-12 season – NFL Special (Part I)
It has been a long time since San Diego Chargers are struggling to gain glory and achieve something tangible enough, which would keep them cherishing for at least a year.
They played in the playoff rounds of the National Football League (NFL) in 1994-95 season and reached the Super Bowl only to lose against San Francisco 49ers.
They got an opportunity to repeat the performance of more or less the same stature after more than 10 years.
In 2007, they qualified for the American Football Conference (AFC) championship title, but lost against New England Patriots, who were beaten by New York Giants in the NFL title game.
After that, Chargers qualified for the playoffs twice, but could not even get a shot at the conference championship game.
In the past NFL season, their chances were looking bright after a thundering start. However, they underwent a slump halfway through the season and paved the way for other teams to progress.
Chargers surged and recorded an impressive comeback towards the end of the season, but still could not reach the postseason.
In this space, we are going to have a look at how Chargers performed against every opponent they faced in the regular season.
Against Minnesota Vikings
Chargers’ start to the season was positive, but it also exposed some of the flaws of the offensive unit, especially of quarterback, Philip Rivers.
Overall, Rivers’ performance was satisfactory, but he struggled with accuracy of his passes and ended up throwing two interceptions in the first game.
Nevertheless, a victory provided Chargers a cushion to fill in the voids.
Chargers were 10 points behind the Vikings after the end of first half, but the second half witnessed a sturdy performance from the defence, which did not give away any scoring point.
Chargers scored a touchdown in the third quarter and grabbed 10 more points in the final to seal the victory.
The final score settled at 24-17.
At New England
After making a successful start to the season, Chargers travelled to play against New England Patriots, who were unstoppable.
The first quarter saw both the teams scoring a touchdown each, but for the rest of game, Patriots were out of Chargers’ reach.
Patriots collected 13 points without conceding any in the second quarter, and got a handy advantage.
After the scoreless third quarter, both the teams managed two touchdowns respectively in the final quarter.
The final score, 35-21, settled in favour of Patriots.
Rivers was good in terms of gaining passing yards, but he once again struggled with accuracy as he sent two interceptions during the game.
Against Kansas City Chiefs
Rivers struggled once again, but Chargers’ defence provided him some respite when Kansas City Chiefs visited.
The first quarter went scoreless and Chargers scored a touchdown and a field goal in the second to enter the halftime with a 10-point lead.
Both teams scored a touchdown each in the third quarter.
Chiefs attempted to hit back in the final quarter and scored 10 points, but Chargers managed a field goal to stay three points ahead of Chiefs.
The final score settled at 20-17.
Rivers once again ended up throwing two interceptions.
He said after the game:
"Certainly I need to play better, and I'm going to work like crazy to do that. But 2-1 is what's important."
To be continued...
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