CINCINNATI, United States // Dump it off to the running back, hand it off, let the field goal kicker take it from there.
Philip Rivers didn’t have to do a whole lot to get a play-off win. Not with the way San Diego’s defence was dominating.
And not with the way Andy Dalton was coming apart in the play-offs again.
The Chargers took advantage of Dalton’s three turnovers in the second half on Sunday, pulling away to a 27-10 victory that extended San Diego’s late-season surge and pushed the Bengals’ post-season misery to record levels.
With Rivers making accurate throws in the chilling rain, the Chargers (10-7) won their fifth in a row, beating the last team that had knocked them off. They’ll play next Sunday in Denver, who have the AFC’s top seed.
The Chargers lost at home to the Broncos 28-20 on November 10, then went to Denver and got a rejuvenating 27-20 victory on December 12 that gave them momentum.
“We will be confident,” said Rivers, who was 12 of 16 for 128 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions on a rainy, 40-degree afternoon. “We’ve got to be careful we’re not overconfident, which we won’t be. Cincinnati came to our place and won five weeks ago.”
The Bengals (11-6) won in San Diego 17-10 on December 1, starting their final push toward the AFC North title. They took advantage of three turnovers in that one.
They turned it over four times on Sunday, with Dalton’s fumble and two interceptions in the second half leading to one of the most stunning losses in franchise history. The Bengals had been 8-0 at home and brought the NFL’s No 3 defence – their highest-ever play-off ranking – into the game.
With everything in their favor, they unraveled in the second half, getting outscored 20-0.
The Bengals now have the sixth-longest streak of play-off futility in NFL history, stretching all the way back to the 1990 season. They’ve lost their play-off opener three straight years, matching a league record, according to Stats LLC.
“Whatever you do during the regular season doesn’t matter once you get to the play-offs,” said Dalton, who is 0-3 in the play-offs. “It’s disappointing. All the good stuff we did this year, then to come out and not win this game kind of hurts.”
Coach Marvin Lewis fell to 0-5 in the play-offs during his 11 seasons as head coach, but is expected to stick around and get another chance to try again.
A lot of it falls on Dalton, who has a trilogy of bad play-off games. He fumbled and threw two interceptions in the second half. Dalton finished 29 of 51 for 334 yards with a below-average passer rating of 67.
The Chargers pressured him in the second half and took advantage of his mistakes. And they didn’t turn the ball over in a conservative offence that sometimes grated on Rivers but ultimately worked.
“The way our defence was playing, as long as we didn’t have a disaster and we made plays when they were there, we were going to win this game,” Rivers said.
Combined with the Saints’ victory over the Eagles on Saturday night, the two No 6 play-off seeds won for the first time since 2010, when the Packers won the Super Bowl.
And the Chargers are thinking: Why not us?
“We’re loose, we’re confident, we’re peaking at the right time,” safety Eric Weddle said. “We are a team to be dealt with. We’re a confident bunch, especially in the second half, in the fourth quarter. We feel we’re ready for those situations. The pressure is not going to get to us.”
This one was a reversal from the last time they met. The Bengals forced three turnovers for their win in San Diego.
The Bengals got the rematch at home, where they had scored 49, 41, 41, 42 and 34 points in their last five regular season games. Their 10 points on Sunday were a season low.
Dalton went 17 of 34 for 170 yards with two interceptions, a fumble and three sacks in the second half. In first-round play-off losses each of the past three seasons, Dalton has thrown one touchdown pass and six interceptions.
“We kept Andy on his heels and got him off his spot,” Weddle said. “We hit him a bunch and forced big turnovers.”
He wasn’t the only one with a big gaffe. Rookie running back Giovani Bernard fumbled at the San Diego 3-yard line after a catch in the first half.
Rivers completed a team-record and NFL-best 69.5 percent of his passes this season for 4,478 yards. He was only 5 of 6 in the first half for 48 yards with San Diego frequently backed inside its 20-yard line to start drives.
He completed all of his six passes during a 10-play, 80-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter that put the Chargers ahead to stay, with his 4-yard pass to Ladarius Green giving San Diego a 14-10 lead.
Dalton then made the mistakes that turned the game, allowing the Chargers to pull ahead. Ronnie Brown finished it off with a 58-yard touchdown run, the longest TD run against the Bengals in their play-off history.