CARSON, Calif. _ Losing to the Los Angeles Rams was reasonable because everyone has lost to the Rams so far.
Same goes for the Kansas City Chiefs, who will attempt to improve to 4-0 on Monday night.
Those are the NFL's only two remaining unbeaten teams.
But losing to the 1-2 San Francisco 49ers as 10-point favorites, one game after the 49ers lost their franchise quarterback, wouldn't have seemed reasonable at all.
That's nearly what the Los Angeles Chargers did Sunday, before emerging for a 29-27 victory inside a sold-out and decidedly 49ers-strong StubHub Center.
They trailed by double figures early, scored 20 consecutive points during one stretch and then had to hang on for the win to pull even at 2-2 for the season.
Philip Rivers completed 25 of 39 passes for 250 yards and three touchdowns while Melvin Gordon had 104 yards in 15 carries, his first 100-yard rushing game since Oct. 29 at New England.
The Chargers had opened their biggest lead _ 26-17 _ midway through the third quarter on Caleb Sturgis' 25-yard field goal.
But the 49ers came back to move ahead 27-26 before a Sturgis 21-yard field goal finished the scoring midway through the fourth quarter.
From there, the Chargers held on thanks to their defense.
The game arrived at halftime tied 17-17 in a rather circuitous way.
The game's first possession began with a Rivers incompletion, a Gordon run stuffed for zero yards and then a touchdown for San Francisco when 49ers safety Antone Exum picked off a Rivers pass and returned it 32 yards for a score.
Rivers was trying to hit Keenan Allen and overthrew him. It was the 49ers' first interception of the season, coming on the opposition's 129th pass.
The 49ers went up 14-0 before the end of the first quarter when C.J. Beathard hit Kendrick Bourne for a two-yard score to finish a 56-yard drive set up when Sturgis missed a field goal from 54 yards.
Rivers and his offensive teammates got untracked on their final drive of the opening quarter. They went 75 yards with Rivers connecting with longtime favorite target Antonio Gates for a 5-yard touchdown.
The Chargers defense, however, then permitted San Francisco to assemble a 21-play possession that resulted in a Robbie Gould 21-yard field goal to make it 17-6 as the afternoon grew more uncomfortable for the home team.
In the final minute of the second quarter, the Chargers scored 11 points to pull into what has to be one of the most unlikely halftime ties in franchise history.
Rivers connected with Austin Ekeler on a 22-yard score and then with Gordon for the two-point conversion.
After a three-and-out defensive stand, Desmond King returned a punt 56 yards to enable Sturgis to make a 48-yard field goal to even the score.
