Antonio Gates is coming back for another season.

Oh, the most Gates will outright commit to is that he’s leaning that way. But everything he says indicates the tight end’s Hall of Fame induction will be delayed a year.

This revelation is perhaps a silver lining for a franchise slogging through 3-10 season.

Complete coverage: Chiefs 10, Chargers 3

“I don’t want to go out this kind of way,” Gates said Sunday night. “I don’t want to go out as a loser. Winning is the way, ideally, you want to go out. … I want to make one more run at it, and then if it doesn’t work, be like, ‘OK.’ That’s just my feeling right now.”


Officially, Gates said he will take a month or so after the season to critically assess his own desire and ability, as well as how the Chargers are moving forward.

“I’ll spend some time,” he said, “to see where I’m at, what’s being done, what changes there are, what our goals are.”

Gates, 35, is among the veterans who have voiced concern about the Chargers’ youth movement not being entirely productive. Gates praises the infusion of energy provided by the young players and sees a stellar future for some, but he and other vets lament the work habits and lack of understanding of “what it takes” demonstrated by some.

Gates’ contract is up at the end of this season. So there is the matter of whether the Chargers want him back.


“Being with one team my entire career is something I think about, too,” Gates said. “So that’s a (factor). We’ll see about that.”

The idea that the Chargers wouldn’t want to retain Gates is almost too insane to consider. Not only is he among the measly handful of stars on the roster, he remains a difference maker despite having worked on a bum knee a good portion of the season. In eight games, he has 45 receptions for 497 yards and four touchdowns. It appears he will fall short of his average of 69-875-9 from 2004-14, but he continues to be seen as the most dangerous man on the Chargers’ offense, particularly with Keenan Allen out. Gates has been the team’s leading receiver the past two weeks.

“It’s not really hard to tell,” Gates said in assessing that he still has the skills to excel. “I don’t let my attitude change reality, I let reality shape my attitude. I know based on how (defenses) are playing me. If we get to a point where they let (a defensive lineman) guard me, it’s time to go. … I still feel like a linebacker and a safety can’t cover me. If I lose that, I’ll know.”

There is also the matter of history.


Already virtually assured of being inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame five years after he retires, Gates can cement that eventuality by catching nine more touchdown passes. He currently has 103 career scores, second only to Tony Gonzalez’s 111 among all tight ends to ever play in the NFL.

“Yeah, I have a bigger perception,” he said without hesitation when asked if the chase of Gonzalez was a factor. “That’s one of my goals.”

Gates acknowledges the danger in playing beyond his rightful capability, but it seems he would be far more bothered by giving it up too early. Wanting to see if he and the Chargers can once more capture the winning ways of his early career clearly captivates him.

A competitor – the type who worked his way into being an eight-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro after not playing college football and not being drafted and who has started 175 NFL games, many of them in defiance of a bad ankle or foot or knee – doesn’t walk away before he’s ready to do so.


“He doesn’t,” Gates agreed. “He just doesn’t. He just don’t walk away, he just don’t. He don’t accept losing.”

Abruptly, probably without noticing, because he’d actually been talking about himself all along, Gates shifted to the first person.

“I’ve got too much pride for that,” he said.

Yes, he’ll be back.