Chargers Headed to the Playoffs, Manning Sees Another Record-Setting Day

For the San Diego Chargers (9-7), they faced a tough battle on Sunday to get a playoff spot and succeeded. The team defeated the Kansas City Chiefs (11-5) 27-24 in overtime and with losses by the Miami Dolphins (8-8) and the Baltimore Ravens (8-8), the door opened for January play.

Phillip Rivers

But the victory didn’t come easily for the Chargers as they were down 10 points in the final quarter. They rallied as they competed against a team without a majority of its starters such as quarterback Alex Smith and running back Jamaal Charles.

The Chiefs had an opportunity to win it in regulation with a 41-yard field goal by kicker Ryan Succop but it went to the right and the game entered OT. The win eventually came on a field goal by Chargers kicker Nick Novak with a successful 36-yarder.

A win is a win but it was not a pretty one. Chargers quarterback Phillips Rivers said via the Associated Press, “We didn’t play our best game, but teams that are playoff teams find a way to win when you don’t play your best and that’s what we did today.”

The victory represented the Chargers fourth straight one and now on Sunday, they’ll look for win No.5 against the Cincinnati Bengals (11-5). This will come to an end as the Bengals get the win (-7.5, 46.5 o/u).

As for the Chiefs, they lost their last five of seven games and with their No. 5 seed, they’ll play the Indianapolis Colts (11-5) on Saturday. The Colts get the win (-1.5, 46.5 o/u).

Another Record Day for Manning

Peyton Manning

In Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders (4-12), it took two quarters for Denver Broncos (13-3) quarterback Peyton Manning to throw four touchdowns and surpass New Orleans Saints (11-5) quarterback Drew Brees for the single-season yardage record.

For the regular season, Manning had 5,477 yards with 55 touchdown passes.

Denver is now also the first team to score 600 points during a season, moving past the 589 points scored by New England Patriots (12-4) in 2007.

Manning said of the game via the Associated Press, “This was a good game today. We needed this win. We needed to improve on some things. The coaches challenged us in a couple of areas and I think we responded to those challenges.”

With Sunday’s 34-14 win over the Raiders, the Broncos now have the top AFC seed for the playoffs. They’ll have this weekend off and will play the winner of the lowest winning AFC seed from this weekend’s games on Sunday, January 12.

You can’t help but ask if if they’ll go all the way. Vegas has the Broncos at 3/1 to win the 2014 Super Bowl.

As for the Raiders, they endured an 11th consecutive non-winning season, losing six straight games and raising questions on whether or not second-year head coach Dennis Allen will return for a third season. In the last two years, he’s won eight games.

Browns Fire Chudzinski

One team that didn’t wait long to fire its losing coach was the Cleveland Browns (4-12).

Rob Chudzinski

After their 20-7 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8), the Browns fired first-year coach Rob Chudzinski on Sunday. The team lost seven straight games to end the season and since October, went 1-10.

The Browns players openly expressed their frustration with the team’s coaching carousel. On Sunday, a Browns linebacker said to NFL.com,”We are so dysfunctional. These billionaires need to pick somebody and stay with them. These aren’t girlfriends. You can’t dump them if they (fail to please you) one time.”

As for his replacement, ESPN reported on Sunday a short list included Penn State coach Bill O’Brien and Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels. Both of them are supposedly close with Browns general manager Mike Lombardi.

Chargers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt is also reportedly on the short list too.