Chargers falter at the finish
With a playoff berth on the line, Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert and his receivers made several clutch plays to force overtime Sunday night.
But in the end, getting outplayed in all three phases through three and a half quarters was too much to overcome.
The Raiders won, 35-32, on Daniel Carlson’s 47-yard field goal as time expired in Las Vegas to earn a playoff berth.
So the Chargers (9-8) fell short of the postseason for the third consecutive year.
Not making the playoffs under first-year head coach Brandon Staley qualified as underachievement for a few reasons:
The Chargers had fairly good health for most of the year including going into Sunday’s game as a threepoint favorite. Also they played more home games than road games and landed six players on the Pro Bowl team.
It seems inevitable that Herbert will lead the frachise to the playoffs with some regularity as he moves through his career.
The second-year player came up with several clutch throws to rally his team from a 29-14 deficit via touchdown drives of 75 and 83 yards, forcing overtime.
The first of those touchdown drives saw Herbert convert on fourth-and-6 and fourth-and-21, to receiver Mike Williams and rookie Josh Palmer, respectively, the latter for a TD.
Herbert showed rare poise to get two critical points — pulling his team to 29-22 — by finding Austin Ekeler after scanning other targets.
The QB sustained the following drive with two completions on fourthand-10 (Williams and Keenan Allen), another on third-and-10 (Allen). Also, a fourth-and-10 pass elicited a defensive hold for a first down.
Herbert’s 12-yard laser to Williams, between two defenders, went for the TD that, followed by Dustin Hopkins’ kick, created a 29-29 tie and overtime.
Getting outplayed and falling behind, 29-14, the Chargers had too many misfires.
The Raiders turned a fumble by returner Andre
Roberts into seven points and scored three points after picking off Herbert. Staley’s defense allowed the Raiders to convert on thirdand-23 via a run, leading to a go-ahead TD at the end of the first half (facilitated by an awful interference call on a Bolts defensive back).
Hopkins missed a 51yard field goal.
Poor run blocking led to three more points, and a cascade of criticism for Staley’s brazen fourth-and-1 gamble from his 18 in the third quarter. Former Chargers lineman Darius Philon beat guard Matt Feiler and tackled Ekeler for a 2-yard loss. The Raiders turned that into three more points.
49ers win a big one
“I’m totally exhausted right now,” Jimmy Garoppolo said.
The 49ers quarterback had just completed perhaps the best high-stakes performance of his career (before informing Fox Sports of his fatigue).
Needing a victory to reach the playoffs, the Niners trailed the Rams in Inglewood by seven points. They had to go 88 yards with no timeouts and 87 seconds on the clock.
Garoppolo drove them for a tying touchdown via accurate passes. He attacked the middle of a defense that had lost its signal-caller, safety Jordan Fuller, early in the fourth quarter.
On the first drive of overtime, Jimmy G led the Niners to a short field goal that stood as the winner when rookie cornerback Ambry Thomas picked off Matthew Stafford’s underthrown deep pass.
Stafford had played a good game, and gave the Rams (12-5) a fine season that has led to the NFC’s No. 4 seed and a home playoff game against Arizona.
Up front, the 49ers outplayed L.A. — both on offense and defense.
AFC’s extreme parity
A victory as a 14-point favorite at Jacksonville would’ve returned the Colts to the playoffs.
Not happening. Rookie Trevor Lawrence outplayed Carson Wentz in the quarterback duel, the defense stuffed key run plays and the Jags (3-14) rolled to a 26-11 victory that kept the Colts winless in Jacksonville since 2015.
At Houston, the Titans survived as a double-digit favorite to win 28-25, giving coach Mike Vrabel’s injuryravaged team the top seed and lone bye.