Chargers' Perfect Ending

SAN DIEGO – Why, yes, it was a ‘Skins game. Just like the kind they usually play in golf this time of year, the so-called “silly season.”

Meaningless.

An exhibition.

The only real conclusion to be drawn from the Chargers' 23-20 win over the Washington at Qualcomm Stadium is just that. It was a conclusion. Now complete is a regular season in which the Chargers lost three of their first five, then won all of its last 11 games en route to a fourth AFC West championship.

What was proven, however, was that one team’s backups and even third-teamers can beat another hapless franchise’s starters. Now in his 11th year as a reserve quarterback, Billy Volek drove the Chargers to the victory, hitting Buster Davis for an 11-yard pass to within inches of the goal line and pushing San Diego ahead with a short touchdown pass to fullback Mike Tolbert.

Such a close win or a loss to the Redskins might’ve set off all sorts of alarms in San Diego two or three months ago, but however it turned out, this merely meant the Chargers could get on with the postseason run for which they qualified three weeks ago. And try to get healthy in the process.

Indeed, about the only difference between this regular-season closer and the last game of the preseason is that players won’t be cut the next day. Instead, the Chargers will embark on a two-week preparation for a postseason game at Qualcomm Stadium in two weeks. The opponent will be determined next weekend in the first round of the AFC playoffs, which the Chargers will be sitting out with a bye earned by virtue of their No. 2 seed.

Considering the year the Redskins have been having, the red-clad fans in the lower rows behind their bench didn’t care if this was a Pop Warner outing. What they saw was a Washington team playing virtually three quarters against Chargers backups, not to mention a few who until yesterday had been regulars on the inactive list.

You didn’t even need to wait for the opening kickoff to know the importance of this finale, which was zero. The Chargers’ inactive list was full of dinged-up players – Shawne Merriman, Vincent Jackson, Eric Weddle and Jacques Cesaire – who likely would’ve been deemed playable if the contest had any ramifications whatsoever.

Then, the first play the Chargers got off was a pass to Buster Davis, the former first-round draft choice who was activated for the first time all season. Visibly, quarterback Philip Rivers was hardly his usual sharp self, overthrowing several of his early-game targets.

Still, the Chargers quickly assumed a 10-0 lead. Nate Kaeding opened the scoring with a 47-yard field, then Rivers capped an 11-play, 61-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates. Coming with 6:36 remaining in the first quarter, it was the last pass Rivers would throw all afternoon.

Volek, who’d thrown just one pass all season and generally been used to take a knee at the end of wins over Kansas City, took over and immediately introduced himself with a 50-yard connection to Malcom Floyd. That led to another Kaeding three-pointer of 24 yards, whereupon the Chargers pretty much plumbed the entirety of their their depth chart.

By no coincidence, the Redskins were ahead 14-13 at halftime. Jason Campbell, the usually beleaguered Washington quarterback, tossed a 2-yard TD pass to tight end Todd Yoder and a 3-yard score to fullback Mike Sellers. The latter was set up by a short pass that receiver Malcolm Kelly and some inexperienced defense turned into an 84-yard gain to the San Diego 4.

Until the winning TD, the second half was an exchange of field goals, a 45-yarder by Kaeding, two short kicks by Graham Gano after the Chargers defense held firm inside the 10-yard line.