Chargers create 14-3 win

SAN DIEGO -- After months of anticipation, the San Diego Chargers’ first 10 possessions Sunday ended punt, missed field-goal attempt, interception, punt, punt, punt, punt, end of half, fumble, punt.

So what was so wrong with Martyball, again?

But to hear San Diego players tell it, they had the Chicago Bears just where they wanted them.

“Listen guys,” running back LaDainian Tomlinson told reporters after a 14-3 defense-driven victory, “this is no team you’re going to come out and run up and down the field on. It’s just not going to happen. I said, ‘They’re going to make a mistake somewhere. And when they do, it’s our job to capitalize on it.’ ”

And he was right. Eleven possessions into their season opener at Qualcomm Stadium, the Chargers finally broke through. Tomlinson, the league’s most valuable player last season, had only 25 yards rushing in 17 carries but threw for one touchdown and ran for another to help his team pull away for good.

“This is the [type of] game we didn’t win last year,” San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers said. “We didn’t win this game in Baltimore, Kansas City and [against] New England, and these are the games you have to win. They don’t all have to be pretty. LT is not rushing for 170 yards, and I’m not throwing for a bunch of yards and touchdowns. It just didn’t happen. It’s about winning.”

Who could have guessed the Norv Turner era would start with defense?

“Not only did we contain them, stop them, but we created the turnovers that decided the game,” said Turner, whose team recovered three Chicago fumbles and intercepted a pass.

The Chargers certainly weren’t complaining about winning with defense. A victory over the defending NFC champions was satisfying no matter what, and San Diego’s offense eventually came around, controlling the ball for the game’s final six minutes. Tomlinson said he could see fatigue and frustration start to settle in among Chicago players.

“I saw guys over on their sidelines and they were stretching a lot,” he said. “So I figured they were getting down a little bit. So I think in the second half, they were just on the field longer than they wanted to be.”

If anyone needed a masseuse, it was Bears quarterback Rex Grossman. He was sacked three times, intercepted once and harassed throughout the game. The Bears rolled up just 202 yards of offense -- more than 120 yards fewer than they averaged last season -- and sorely missed sure-handed running back Thomas Jones, who now plays for the New York Jets. Running backs Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson combined for 80 yards rushing and each fumbled once.

“It was mistakes that stopped our drives and we failed to get it in the end zone,” Grossman said. “It’s extremely disappointing, but we’ll learn from it.”

Chicago’s defense made some pivotal plays, including a controversial one midway through the third quarter. Midway through the third quarter, on second and goal from the Bears’ one, the Chargers fumbled the snap and turned over the ball. They argued unsuccessfully that a Chicago lineman lurched before the snap, causing a botched exchange between center Nick Hardwick and Rivers.

“That’s tough because it could have been costly,” Rivers said of what he considered a non-call. The play was not reviewable. “We were able to battle through.”

As angry as he was at that moment, waving his arms and yelling in disgust, Rivers was all smiles after the game. This one felt good.

“This is why you play,” he said. “These kind of games are more gratifying to win than winning, 35-3, when you have it won in the first quarter. These games are. . . what you grow up dreaming about playing.”

And now comes the dream rematch. The Chargers play at New England on Sunday with a chance to avenge last January’s home loss to the Patriots in a divisional playoff game. It was that defeat that paved the way for the firing of Marty Schottenheimer, and the hiring of Turner.

After that crushing loss, the San Diego players were particularly angered by the way some New England players celebrated on the Qualcomm turf, doing mocking renditions of the Chargers’ own victory dances.

But Tomlinson, who at the time questioned the class of Patriots Coach Bill Belichick, downplayed somewhat the significance of a regular-season rematch.

“This is what I’m going to tell the team this week: It doesn’t matter what happens on Sunday,” he said. “It does, but it doesn’t. And the reason why? It’s the next game, that’s why it matters. But it doesn’t matter because we may see them again. Our plan is to see them again in the playoffs. That’s when it matters. For us to beat them on Sunday, what’s that going to prove? Nothing. We’ve beat them before, we’ve done it, we want to beat them in the playoffs.”

Then, he paused.

“But I tell you what,” he added with a smile, “it’s going to be a barnburner.”

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