INDIANAPOLIS — Music thumped through the Chargers’ locker room, the bass almost drowning out the cheers and the high-fives and the handshakes after an AFC playoff-clinching 20-3 victory over the Indianapolis Colts on Monday night at Lucas Oil Stadium. Almost, because it was loud, but not loud enough.
“Hell, yeah,” defensive lineman Sebastian Joseph-Day shouted, his voice rising above the celebratory din when asked if the Chargers’ long, strange trip to reach this point made it all the more satisfying. “When you go through the trials and tribulations, it makes the victory sweeter.”
“It’s amazing,” wide receiver Keenan Allen said. “It’s everything we’ve worked for, everything we’re here for. All the details and everything are going to mean a little more in these last two weeks. I’ve been here long enough to know when it comes (to making the playoffs), it’s a great feeling. The season starts now.”
“About this team, it’s been about the ups and downs, but we still find a way to get wins, to get ourselves wins at the end,” running back Austin Ekeler said. “I think for any great team, you never play your best because you’re always pushing to get better. I wouldn’t say we’re playing at our highest level.
“Or anywhere near it.”
After the New York Jets lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Thursday night and the New England Patriots lost to the Cincinnati Bengals and the Las Vegas Raiders fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday and the Miami Dolphins lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, it cleared a path for the Chargers to clinch a playoff berth for the first time since 2018.
After the dominoes fell in the Chargers’ favor, all they needed to do to clinch a wild-card berth was to defeat the Colts and erase years of futility that included an overtime loss to the Raiders on the final day of the last regular season last Jan. 9 that sent them on an early vacation.
Ekeler scored on 1-yard runs in the second and fourth quarters and Cameron Dicker kicked 24- and 21-yard field goals as the Chargers improved to 9-6 with regular-season games against the Rams (5-10) at SoFi Stadium and the Broncos (4-11) in Denver still to come.
The Chargers intercepted Colts quarterback Nick Foles three times and sacked him seven times in their best overall defensive game of the season, dominating a malfunctioning Indianapolis offense. Foles completed 17 of 29 passes for 143 yards as the Colts (4-10-1) lost their fifth consecutive game under interim coach Jeff Saturday, the previous one by blowing a 33-0 halftime lead at Minnesota.
“I think it’s just the beginning,” said Chargers coach Brandon Staley, who presented a game ball to team owner Dean Spanos in the locker room afterward. “This is not our final goal. We expected to be at this point. I’m really proud of how this season has gone for our football team and what we’ve been able to demonstrate in order to make it into the postseason.”
The Chargers welcomed safety Derwin James Jr. back to the lineup after he sat out two games because of a quadriceps injury. James didn’t last the first half, though, ejected after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Indianapolis wide receiver Ashton Dulin with 5:19 remaining in the second quarter.
Two plays earlier, James was penalized for a face mask infraction after Indianapolis wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. caught a 7-yard pass on a first-and-15 play from the Colts’ 24-yard line. The matching 15-yard penalties ignited the Colts’ only scoring drive.
James and Dulin were each examined for head injuries after James’ initiated their collision. James and Dulin were later placed in concussion protocol. James was unavailable to speak to reporters in the postgame locker room, but Staley defended him and objected to his ejection.
“I know Derwin’s intent,” Staley said. “He tried to lead with his shoulder. It’s a play where (the Colts) obviously laid the guy out in a tough position (in the pattern), which is their fault, not ours. Derwin made an aggressive play. We all know Derwin’s not going to try to do that to anybody. I know what Derwin’s intentions are.
“I know his target was not above the neck. I know that.”
Foles was shaky in his first start of the season and only his second appearance. James and Michael Davis picked off errant passes from him in the first quarter and Asante Samuel Jr. intercepted a third throw in the third. The Colts’ only points came on Chase McLaughlin’s 46-yard field goal.
“We’ve got a unit that’s really connected out there, a team that’s playing really hard,” Staley said of the Chargers’ defense, which shut out its fourth consecutive opponent in the first quarter. “We’re playing extremely disciplined and doing all the things you need to do to put in a dominant effort like that.”
Bolt Fam came through in Indy. See you in the #NFLPlayoffs, Herbie. #BoltUp pic.twitter.com/yODel3AzI9
— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2022
Got the knee down ???? @DerwinJames
????: #LACvsIND on ESPN
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/ibALz5obxA pic.twitter.com/0ytyt37gXt— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2022
MACK ATTACK @FiftyDeuce
????: #LACvsIND on ESPN
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/ibALz5obxA pic.twitter.com/hZVkD4P45y— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2022
Asante Samuel Jr. read it the whole way. Third interception by the @chargers defense! @godschild3_
????: #LACvsIND on ESPN
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/ibALz5obxA pic.twitter.com/jC0QohjvH4— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2022
A 30-yard dart on an absolute rope ????
????: #LACvsIND on ESPN
????: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/ibALz5oJn8 pic.twitter.com/1fa4sQ5Krz— NFL (@NFL) December 27, 2022
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