And speaking of self-destructive.

The Chargers played a brilliant game, so hopefully no one will take my critique as being an indictment of their play. They proved themselves the class of the AFC West today.

The Broncos played a poor game. They gave up a 17 point lead and, honestly, the defense didn’t keep up with their part of the bargain. The bargain being this: the offense scores just enough to win and the defense keeps the other team from the long drives (like the 99 yard drive early in the second half) and the high scores that the Broncos are losing right now. If the defense had kept its end of the bargain, the Broncos would have won.

Make no mistake: the Broncos’ offense is not one that is meant to win games this year. It’s meant to be efficient enough to give the defense opportunities to win games. But the Chargers simply overwhelmed the defense in the second half, playing almost flawlessly.

While the game was ugly in the end, it was an impressive performance by the Chargers and a well-earned win. I look forward to the rematch.