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After the Chargers scored a late touchdown to pull within a point of the Chiefs on Thursday night, quarterback Philip Rivers assumed that his team would take the one point and head for overtime. As he headed to the sideline, however, he found out that the man who calls the shots had a different plan in mind.

“Coach Lynn said, ‘Let’s go win it right now,'” Rivers told NFL Network after the 29-28 win.

And so they did. Rivers said that receiver Mike Williams “caught a touchdown on very same play in first half,” and that “[w]e dressed it up a little bit and threw it to him again.”

And it worked. Williams was wide open, capping the 14-point comeback and adding a 15th to capture the victory and thrust the AFC West, and the top of the AFC playoff tree, into glorious disarray.

The path is now clear. Win the final two games, at home against the Ravens and at Denver, and hope that the Chiefs lose one, at Seattle or at home vs. Oakland.

Rivers was pragmatic when discussing the outcome on the NFLN set. He knows they may still end up being the fifth seed. But now, thanks to an incredible comeback that won’t be fully appreciated until it’s fully digested, the Chargers are on the brink of forcing the road to Atlanta through L.A.

Which means that the road to Atlanta in both conferences could end up going through L.A.