SAN DIEGO _ Chargers turned in a below-average performance Sunday and paid for it, losing to the underdog Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 28-21, at Qualcomm Stadium.
Where this game was concerned, put away the violins regarding the Chargers' bad injury luck.
Tampa Bay (7-5) overcame injuries to several players during the game and saw a backup safety, pressed into duty by a starter's injury seven days ago, pick off an ill-advised Philip Rivers pass, on second-and-1, late in the fourth quarter, to preserve a seven-point lead.
Rivers, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, had an uneven performance, and that usually spells defeat for the Chargers (5-7).
Chargers receiver Travis Benjamin dropped a long pass earlier in the fourth quarter.
San Diego's defense got a seventh interception from Casey Hayward, the NFL leader in that category, and a 12-yard sack from rookie Joey Bosa.
But the defense allowed too many big plays and allowed six conversions on Tampa Bay's 14 plays on either third or fourth down.
Bolts special teams once again came up short, as Josh Lambo missed a 53-yard kick and punt Drew Kaser had two below-average punts in gross (40 and 38 yards) and had a below-average net of 35.3 on three punts (Tampa averaged 47 yards, net, on its two punts).
Top performer for the Chargers was Melvin Gordon, who rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown and had 54 receiving yards.
Rivers hit Tyrell Williams for a 40-yard touchdown, rewarding a timeout on first down.
Denied a victory that would've pulled them to .500, a repeat of their home loss to the Miami Dolphins three games ago, the Chargers are deep in the AFC West cellar, behind Oakland (10-2), Kansas City (9-3) and Denver (8-4) and have dropped 25 of 38 games dating to Week 7 of 2014.
Realistically, the most likely good outcome remaining for this team is averting a second consecutive losing season. The Chargers have post consecutive losing records since 2000-01 under Mike Riley.
