FOXBOROUGH, Mass. _ The vulnerable New England Patriots looked entirely more venerable Sunday.
The team reported to be suspect by its impressive standards instead hammered the Chargers 41-28 at Gillette Stadium to advance to the franchise's eighth consecutive AFC title game.
The Patriots will play at Kansas City next weekend with the winner moving on to Super Bowl LIII.
The defeat ended a Chargers season that throughout offered glimpses of possibly being something special but ultimately ended up in shreds thanks to New England's precision.
Last weekend, the Chargers throttled Baltimore's offense in a 23-17 wild-card victory with an alignment that used seven defensive backs. The scheme failed miserably Sunday as they fell behind 35-7 by halftime.
The Chargers hadn't allowed as many as 35 points in the opening half of a game since Dec. 22, 1985, when they trailed the Chiefs 35-10 entering the third quarter.
The Chargers did begin mixing in their linebackers but with little success and, as is usually the case with a defense directed by coordinator Gus Bradley, did not utilize the blitz.
They originally went to seven defensive backs in part because of their depth at the position and also because season-ending injuries to Jatavis Brown, Denzel Perryman and Kyzir White thinned their options at linebacker.
Tom Brady continually exploited the smaller Chargers with an array of screens and short passes, with running back James White doing much of the damage in the passing game.
The Chargers were unable to get any pressure on Brady, couldn't slow the running game and struggled keeping tabs on New England's shifty receivers.
Brady finished 34 of 44 for 343 yards and a touchdown. White had 15 receptions for 97 yards. Sony Michel ran for 129 yards and three scores for the Patriots.
The Chargers lost for the first time this season in 10 games played outside of Southern California.
Their 9-0 mark away from their home market led to the introduction of the slogan "Any Squad, Any Place." That motto died against this squad in this place, the Patriots now 20-3 in the playoffs at home with Brady at quarterback.
The Chargers finished the regular season at 12-4, matching the Chiefs for the best record in the conference.
Since they lost out in a tie-breaker, they received the No. 5 seed as the top wild card. The Chargers beat Baltimore in the opening round.
But on Sunday, they were outclassed in every regard as the Patriots essentially put the game away with a brilliant first half.
New England scored touchdowns on each of its first four possessions against a defense that missed assignments and tackles and could find no solution to Brady.
Even when they appeared to stop the Patriots, the Chargers made mistakes to hurt themselves. A pass interference call on Casey Hayward and a holding penalty on Desmond King converted third downs and extended two of the scoring drives.
When they finally forced New England to punt, King muffed the kick and the Patriots recovered to set up a fifth touchdown before halftime.
Offensively, the Chargers had a difficult time protecting Philip Rivers and, after falling so far behind, had to abandon the running game while attempting to make the final score more respectable.
Rivers was repeatedly rushed and hit, New England flustering the veteran with steady pressure from the opening snap.
He finished 25 of 51 for 331 yards and three touchdowns. Keenan Allen, Melvin Gordon, Virgil Green and Antonio Gates scored for the Chargers.
Rivers is now winless in eight career starts against Brady, including 0-3 in the playoffs.
