More than 1,500 miles away, John Harbaugh cut short his victorious postgame press conference. His brother Jim had just left the sideline during the first quarter of the Chargers’ 23-16 victory at Denver. While the Los Angeles head coach returned a short time later, and afterward he tried to take the edge off with a little humor, the situation was serious.
“It’s called atrial flutter,” the Chargers’ coach, 60, said after the game, revealing that he had a similar episode as 49ers head coach in 2012.
After an electrocardiogram with doctors at Empower Field, Harbaugh felt good enough to return to the sideline and vowed to visit his cardiologist on Monday. During his brief absence, defensive coordinator Jesse Minter took the red challenge flag and elected to send out Cameron Dicker out for a 20-yard field goal rather than go for a touchdown on fourth-and-goal from Denver’s 2-yard line.
The Broncos also lost an important individual on that first-quarter drive, Defensive Player of the Year candidate Patrick Surtain. The Denver cornerback sustained a concussion and didn’t play the rest of the game. With Surtain out, the Chargers leaned into their running game to quiet a Broncos pass rush that had dominated during the team’s three-game winning streak and took a 20-0 lead into halftime.
Los Angeles delivered a steady dose of JK Dobbins, who had 25 carries for 96 yards and scored after a phenomenal effort on a second-quarter touchdown. Justin Herbert was 21 of 34 for 237 yards and one score, perfect placement on a wheel-route pass to Kimani Vidal for a 38-yard touchdown, the rookie’s first NFL touch.
But Bo Nix and the Broncos didn’t quit, and they didn’t help Harbaugh’s heart late in the game. Nix threw second-half touchdown passes to Courtland Sutton and rookie Troy Franklin, and the quarterback’s 21-yard scramble set up a Wil Lutz field goal that brought Denver within one score, 23-16, with 59 seconds remaining. That’s when Sean Payton dusted off his famous special-teams playbook and declared an onside-kick attempt.
After Lutz shanked the first kick out of bounds well short of the necessary 10 yards, a Chargers illegal formation gave him another attempt. This time, the kick was too strong, shooting past the Chargers and out of bounds. Los Angeles then ran out the clock.
There’s plenty of clock left on the Chargers’ season, too. Not only did they stop one of the league’s hottest teams on Sunday, they also picked up a division win, improved to 2-1 in the AFC West and gained half a game on the first-place Chiefs (5-0), who were on a bye. The Chargers are at Arizona (2-4) this Sunday.
Discover more from Pro Football Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.