Outplayed in several phases, the Chargers took a 24-19 loss Sunday to the Cincinnati Bengals , who were the more physical team at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Chargers lost up front. The Bengals shut down their receivers for long stretches.

Between the helmet earholes and headsets, the Chargers also malfunctioned.

Gordon emerges

The brightest spot for the Chargers was Melvin Gordon's energetic performance. The rookie running back, looking more decisive, carried 16 times for 88 yards. He popped runs of 20, 26 and 27 yards.

Gordon, who also caught a 10-yard pass, looks capable of balancing the offense.

View the photo gallery: Chargers at Bengals 9/20/15

Problems

San Diego's offensive line helped free Gordon at times but turned in a below-average game. Penalties and missed blocks plagued the unit. Unreliable blocking poured sand in the offense's gas tank, disrupting both the pass and run games.

Philip Rivers took too many hits.

The Bengals were stouter and deeper up front on defense than the Week 1 opponent, Detroit. The Ohio weather was much cooler, helping Bengals pass-rushers to stay active.

Dropoff

A week after Chargers pass-catchers ran free most of the game, the Bengals buttoned up Keenan Allen and other pass-catchers.

Allen finished with two catches for 16 yards. A week ago, he had 15 catches for 166 yards.

Bengals corner Pacman Jones , a quick-footed, tenacious veteran, was effective against Allen.

Malcom Floyd got past Dre Kirkpatrick for a 40-yard touchdown, but Bengals pass defenders, aided by a persistent base pass rush, won the overall game on the perimeter.

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Coaching, know-how

The Bengals have diversified their offense under their second-year coordinator, Hue Jackson , a former Raiders head coach and playcaller who had good results against the Chargers with Oakland.

He kept the Chargers off balance and found good matchups. He was more creative than his predecessor Jay Gruden, the coordinator in San Diego's upset victory at Cincinnati in the 2013 playoffs.

It wasn't a pretty day for Chargers cornerback Brandon Flowers . Isolated without safety help, he gave up three touchdowns (one may have resulted from a miscommunication).

Sharper opponent

Veteran Bengals corner Leon Hall made a heady play to deny the Chargers two points, sniffing out a quick screen to Keenan Allen. A similar play worked for touchdowns against the Broncos and Bills last year, but Hall, a Vista High alum, stopped Allen.

Learn from it

Chargers corner Jason Verrett is a de facto rookie who missed 10 games last year. Twice he was flagged 15 yards for a personal foul, once on a facemask grab away from the ball.

It was an up and down day for Verrett, who had tight coverage on tight end Tyler Eifert but saw Andy Dalton thread the needle for a first down. The quick cornerback also couldn't corral shifty Gio Bernard (20-123) in the open field, leading to some 10 extra yards.

Not aggressive

When Mike McCoy folded up the tent with 50 seconds left in the first half, he also kept the ball out of his star quarterback's hands. The Chargers had stopped the Bengals, creating fourth-and-1 at Cincinnati's 45. McCoy chose to let the clock expire instead of using one of his two timeouts.

Had McCoy stopped the clock, the Chargers stood to take over with about 40 seconds left and one timeout.

It would've been Rivers Time. The Chargers last month gave Rivers the largest sum of guaranteed money, $65 million, in the NFL. The implied logic is, they should give him as many chances as possible within reason. This seemed like a fair time to have Rivers try to make something happen.

The Chargers were due to get the ball to open the third quarter, and when they did, they staged an efficient scoring drive. Even so, they should've made the Bengals defend them at the end of the half.

Bottom line

The Chargers (1-1) need to block better in Week 3. The receivers will try to bounce back, too, with a better performance against the Vikings next Sunday at Minnesota (10 a.m. kickoff). John Pagano 's defense will want to tackle better. So far, the defense's base pass rush warrants a below-average grade.

The Bengals, for their part, look capable of making it five consecutive playoff trips this year.