When the gloom over the Chargers was thick, Philip Rivers was at his most optimistic, even for the always upbeat captain of the Good Ship Lollipop.

Did Rivers know something about this team no one else did?

Time will tell.

One victory is just one victory.


Nothing wrong with lauding the rewarded work when it finally arrives, though. The Bolts, led by Rivers and a defense that has received a huge lift from rookie Joey Bosa, outplayed the Broncos rather handily for most of Thursday night’s game. The final score – San Diego 21, Denver 13 – was an understatement of how the Chargers dominated the defending Super Bowl champs on defense and offense.

“Give a lot of credit to San Diego,” Broncos quarterback Trevor Siemian said of John Pagano’s defense. “They did a good job mixing up looks, and they played well across the board.”

Denver’s best player, Super Bowl 50 MVP Von Miller, said the Bolts “did a great job” and that Rivers showed “he is one of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League.”

Upcoming road games against the Falcons (4-1) and the Broncos (4-2) will tell more about the Bolts (2-4) than mere comments from a quarterback.


About those comments, though, that Rivers slipped to reporters over recent weeks.

He invoked the 2007 Chargers and the 2015 Chiefs when the Bolts were 1-3 and 1-4, respectively.

Strong factoids, those.

The ’07 Bolts overcame a 1-3 start to reach the AFC Championship Game. The ’15 Chiefs reeled off 11 straight wins, including the franchise’s first playoff win in 22 years, after a 1-5 start.


Was Rivers forecasting for these Bolts to reach the AFC title game or win 11 in a row?

No, but he insisted that this team, more so than other recent Bolts teams, was doing a fine job of coping with injuries to upper-echelon players.

He also said the Bolts were playing at a “pretty dang high level.”

Now, because the Bolts actually won a game, the statements take on more heft.


“These are games you win,” he said Thursday night, noting that some ugly moments (such as three horrendous special teams gaffes) are part of most NFL victories.

“And that’s the same team that won the Super Bowl last year,” he added, though, to be fair, it isn’t the same Denver team.

“Now,” he said, “I say that all of that really excited, but we’re still 2-4.”

In one sense, though, the past no longer applies.


For the first time, the ‘16 Bolts are coming off a victory over a winning team.

A mental cleansing occurred Thursday night, Rivers revealed, when the Chargers finally chased the late-game deja blues, however imperfectly.

“I know you all can’t imagine,” he said, “but you can only imagine how tough it’s been in some of the losses we’ve had because you get labeled as a bad team. I know some of the mistakes we’ve made, that’s what bad teams – 1-4 teams – do. But we’ve been so good in so many games, so we knew what we’re capable of.”

The Bolts truly have pulled off impressive feats.


ESPN and Fox radio reported an astounding stat about these Chargers. They have been ahead on the scoreboard for more minutes than any other team this season.

Also, the Chargers went into Thursday’s game with the most first-half points in the NFL.

The fast starts are proof that coach Mike McCoy, play-caller Ken Whisenhunt and their aides, enhanced by Rivers, know how to cook up an effective game plan. The same held true the last time Whisenhunt and McCoy teamed up, in 2013.

The Bolts, on their initial two possessions Thursday, mustered impressive marches against a stout Broncos defense that has taken far fewer injury hits than either the San Diego offense or defense.


There are, however, still soft spots to this team.

Just by going from poor to mediocre in two other areas, the Chargers could make things very interesting this season.

Above all, the special teams need to stop making huge gaffes. Just hold serve, gentlemen, if you must.

The Chargers muffed two punts, giving the Broncos the ball each time, and they failed to grab an onside kick due in part to sub-optimal spacing and numbers.


Taking his medicine Friday, McCoy strongly implied that two of those miscues could’ve been avoided with better coaching.

The other miscue was on Travis Benjamin, who erred twice on the play (by not catching the punt and then trying to catch the bounce in traffic).

So, blame Benjamin, but the decision to deploy him backfired on Chargers coaches who had seen him make other ill-advised decisions.

Finishing games is still on the to-do list.


If not for Kyle Emanuel forcing Broncos tackle Russell Okung into a holding violation away from the play — the same Okung who was hospitalized after the game with concussion symptoms — San Diego’s lead, once 21-3, would’ve shrunk to 21-16 pending a certain two-point try with over 4 minutes left.

At that point, the Bolts and McCoy may have required oxygen masks.

Here’s the thing: the Chargers don’t need McCoy to be a great head coach to be a good team.

If they can clean up the special teams and show more poise late in games, they might go from being a team that commands respect from all NFL opponents to becoming one of the more interesting stories in the decent-but-not-great AFC.


This team is distinctive, perhaps even unique, for its ability to be dangerous in two ways.

To both itself and the opponent.

Tom.Krasovic@SDUnionTribune.com; Twitter: SDUTKrasovic