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Chargers hanging by a thread in playoff race

Dec 9, 2008 - 4:48 PM SAN DIEGO (5-8) AT KANSAS CITY (2-11), 1 pm EST

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- The San Diego Chargers have to hope the Denver Broncos lose their remaining three games just to have a chance of making the postseason.

With zero margin for error, the Chargers visit the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in the first of three must-win contests.

Trailing AFC West-leading Denver (8-5) by three games with three to play, San Diego needs to win its final three and pray for a lot of help to have a chance to squeeze into the playoff picture.

An inconsistent offense and four last-minute losses have all but KO'd the Chargers (5-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak with last week's 34-7 rout of the woeful Oakland Raiders.

Philip Rivers threw three touchdown passes for the sixth time this season, giving him 26 for the season and allowing San Diego to maintain a pulse.

"Regardless of what happens with Denver, which we can't control, we're going to keep playing hard," Rivers said. "We're going to keep playing with the same intensity and the same passion. We haven't needed a win this bad in a while. It was good to get a win and keep the shot alive of playing in January."

Vincent Jackson had five receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown and LaDainian Tomlinson rushed for 91 yards and a score as the Chargers posted their highest point total since Week Three.

"It's always fun playing (Oakland)," Tomlinson said. "We match up well against them. We had a great game plan, and I think we executed the game plan as well as we have all year, on both sides of the ball."

Kansas City, despite its awful record, has been surprisingly competitive for most of the season. In one four-game losing streak against teams all in playoff contention, the Chiefs' margin of defeat was 4.5 points per game.

In last weekend's 24-17 loss to Denver, Kansas City built a 10-point first-half lead but failed to score again. Still, the Chiefs had a chance to tie the game but quarterback Tyler Thigpen was stopped less than a yard short of the goal line.

"Both teams, I thought, did some very good things," Chiefs coach Herm Edwards said. "In the second half, it was on us. They put points on the board, we didn't."

Thigpen completed 17-of-32 passes for 187 yards for Kansas City, which has lost 20 of its last 22 games.

When the teams met at San Diego in Week 10, the Chargers eked out a 20-19 victory after Edwards gambled on a potential two-point conversion that failed with 23 seconds to play.