At least the Chargers are consistent
Bill Plaschke
For a third consecutive season, the Chargers made folks believe, then stole that belief with mistakes, misplays and malaise.
From Pittsburgh — As the end of their season crunched underneath their feet, their faces draped in ski caps, their curses bathed in smoke, the San Diego Chargers were serenaded by the cruelest of songs.
From the Heinz Field loudspeakers it blared. From the lips of the black-swathed Pittsburgh Steelers fans it sang.
Into the Chargers' heads it taunted.
"I'm A Believer."
Yep, gotcha again, the Chargers once again making their fans giddy, only to leave them gasping.
For a third consecutive season Sunday, the Chargers made folks believe, then stole that belief with mistakes, misplays and the strangest of malaise.
For a third consecutive season, the Chargers advanced at least as far as the second round without going to the Super Bowl, this time losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 35-24, in a divisional playoff game that came down to a singular perception as cold as the Allegheny air.
"Pittsburgh laid it all on the line, all the time," Chargers linebacker Stephen Cooper said. "We didn't."
Chargers safety Eric Weddle barked in agreement.
"We needed to man up," he said.
The Chargers left the snowy bowl with the respect that comes from being the first 4-8 team to eventually make the playoffs, and first eight-win team to win a playoff game. They left with a quarterback who stood strong despite being knocked "cuckoo" and with their running back of the future.
But there was something missing.
It is the same thing that was missing when the New England Patriots stunned the 14-win Chargers two years ago in this round.
It was the same thing absent when the Chargers failed to get past the Patriots in the AFC championship game last year.
"At this time of year, you are either a team on the rise, or you are not," Steelers Coach Mike Tomlin.
A rise in focus? A rise in toughness? Whatever it is, the Chargers were once again not that team.
"It doesn't hit you yet that it comes to a brutal end," said still-dazed quarterback Philip Rivers afterward.
But it was brutal indeed, the Chargers continually flirting with success only to eventually wed themselves to the organization's decades-old burden of frustration.
Yes, the Chargers had the lead, stunning Pittsburgh on their first possession, a beautiful 41-yard touchdown loft from Rivers to Vincent Jackson.
But no, they gave that lead back by getting juked and hurdled on a 67-yard punt return by Santonio Holmes.
