ShareThisAs it turns out, the San Diego Chargers aren't the best team to not make the playoffs after all.
They are something far better -- the worst team to make the playoffs.
That 8-8, postseason-qualifying record may look suspicious. But don't expect the Chargers to hang their heads and mutter an apology. It's their .500 record and they'll put it on top of their heads.
"People counted us out all year," said guard Kris Dielman, proudly wearing a spanking-new, gray, "AFC West Division Champions" baseball cap. "Now we're in the playoffs."
Who woulda thunk it?
Their runaway 52-21 victory over Denver, and their win-or-say-goodbye, four-game winning streak, had them feeling as kingly as any other division champ Sunday night.
"I don't see us as 8-8," said quarterback Philip Rivers after the Chargers completed their month-long rally from the NFL scrap heap. "Your record going in doesn't get you a bonus touchdown or field goal or anything."
No matter that they didn't reach first place all year until the referee's whistle ended the game -- and the league's regular season -- at 8:18 p.m.
They took one out of life's playbook: It's not how you start, it's how you finish.
"We never folded," said linebacker Matt Wilhelm. "The coaches gave us a push, and just kept telling us to win ballgames."
The NFL is too full of unbalanced schedules, quirky bounces and blown calls (tell the Chargers about it) for any playoff team to feel survivors' guilt for squeaking in over teams with better records.
In San Diego's case, that would be five teams that were 9-7 or better and got locked out of the party.
The Chargers also stepped unashamedly over another 8-8 team, the apoplectic Denver franchise that completed the most improbable collapse imaginable -- the Broncos epically losing the division and a playoff spot because they couldn't win any of their last three games.
But, hey, what's the Chargers' worry? They're in, and if you're in, you have a chance to win. Their first test comes Saturday (at home because they are division champs) against the Indianapolis Colts, who might think they are 12-4, but not in the Chargers book.
"Everyone's 0-0," linebacker Stephen Cooper said. "Your record doesn't matter, as long as you get in the playoffs. Now, the best team will go on."
If you're still having trouble believing the Chargers made it, well, that's OK. They weren't exactly counting on it themselves four weeks ago.
"We wanted to salvage whatever we could salvage," Rivers said.
"At the point that we were 4-8, we didn't know what was going to happen with Denver," said running back LaDainian Tomlinson. "For us, it was about how we wanted to finish."
And so the Chargers returned from the other side of the River Styx and, as far as they are concerned, that just means they're a good story.
"It's exciting," said Rivers, who was a very efficient 15-of-20 passing Sunday, with two touchdowns. "Obviously, there's some history, the way we trailed and won it."
Maybe they can make some more history, becoming the first 8-8 team to ever win a Super Bowl.
Although they are determined to forget that part of it as fast as they can.
"Records are out the window," reiterated safety Eric Weddle. "We've got as good a shot as anyone now."
(E-mail Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)pe.com)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.Column
