NFL Playoffs Philip Rivers Chargers dispose of Bengals move on to Broncos

CHARGERS 27 BENGALS 10

CINCINNATI If a rainy chilly afternoon at Paul Brown Stadium against a Bengals team that was unstoppable at home can t cool off the red hot San Diego Chargers maybe nothing can.

Get ready for Philip Rivers vs. Peyton Manning III. On Sunday afternoon a San Diego team that barely made it into the AFC wildcard round handed the Bengals their first home loss of the year 27 10 and continued a perfectly timed transformation into a Super Bowl contender.

Just a month ago San Diego was 5 7 seemingly headed for a fourth straight season out of the playoffs. Five victories later they re conjuring images of the 2011 Giants a 9 7 team that improbably won Super Bowl XLVI. Sunday s win set the Chargers up to travel to Denver to face Manning s Broncos in next weekend s AFC divisional playoffs. And the Chargers will travel with huge confidence.

We believe in what we re doing said veteran safety Eric Weddle. We re peaking at the right time. We ve been playing playoff games even back to (Week 12 in) Kansas City.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images Philip Rivers keeps the mistakes to a minimum to lead the Chargers to their fifth straight game.

On Sunday they won a real playoff game but were far from dazzling. Rivers was quiet going 12 for 18 for just 128 yards but he got plenty of help from a balanced attack the Chargers rushed for 196 yards and an opportunistic defense took advantage of a series of mistakes by bumbling Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton.

It s Charger ball it s playoff ball Rivers said. You complete the passes that are presented complete a few big passes and you run it run it. And when you look up at the board at the end of the game you ve won. Playoff games aren t meant to be pretty.

Ronnie Brown s 58 yard touchdown run with 2 17 left sealed the game but it seemed over long before. The Bengals undefeated at home during the regular season led 10 7 at halftime but then Rivers got going. He had thrown six passes in a first half he admitted was a little conservative but he d complete six passes on his opening drive of the third quarter. The last a perfectly thrown fade to tight end Ladarius Green in the end zone capped a 10 play 80 yard drive and gave San Diego a 14 10 edge.

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With Dalton making a mess of things that was all the Chargers (10 7) would need. The Bengals next possession lasted just three plays until Dalton on third and 14 from his own 25 scrambled for a first down dove and lost the ball as he hit the ground. The fumble was recovered by corner Jahleel Addae setting up a 25 yard Nick Novak field goal.

Andy Lyons/Getty Images Jahleel Addae (l.) scoops up an Andy Dalton fumble to set up a San Diego field goal.

Dalton who passed for 334 yards would throw interceptions on the next two possessions setting up one more Charger field goal and singlehandedly deflating his Bengals (11 6). Cincinnati had also fumbled away a scoring opportunity in the first half when Giovani Bernard coughed up the ball on the goal line just before the two minute warning.

We had opportunities to score and continue to move the ball said Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis. And we didn t get it done.

But the Chargers did get it done. San Diego didn t commit a turnover and Rivers threw just four incompletions. It was efficient football the kind of thing you learn when you simply must win four critical December games to stay alive.

Somehow the victories give you a sense of looseness tight end Antonio Gates said. We ve been letting it all hang out. Because we ve needed to win since what Week 14 We had to win what four straight

And now San Diego heads back to Denver believing it can take down the juggernaut Broncos at Mile High for the second time this season.

It doesn t mean anything Rivers said of the 27 20 win on Dec. 12. But it will give us some confidence knowing that we ve gone there and won before. They re a No. 1 seed for a reason.

The Chargers have gotten this far for a reason too.

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