CARSON , Calif. (AP) — Philip Rivers‘ arm was already in motion when he realized Von Miller had read him like a book again.

The Broncos‘ superstar linebacker was about to jump another screen route for his second interception.The Los Angeles Chargers‘ quarterback couldn’t stop Derek Watt Color Rush Jersey his final throw with 1:58 to play. He only managed to guide it into the ground for a clock-stopping incompletion on third down.Rivers left the field enormously frustrated. The Chargers (7-3) were about to feel a whole lot worse.“I’ve got to pull the ball back and take a sack or find a way to complete it,” Rivers said. “(But) we shouldn’t have been in that situation. It should have been about 33-7 at that point.”Rivers’ incompletion meant Denver got 111 seconds to make its final drive, instead of only 70 seconds or so if Rivers had simply knelt down while the Broncos were out of timeouts.The Broncos made every last second count, hitting a field goal as time expired for a 23-22 victory that ended the Chargers’ six-game winning streak in crushing fashion.“That’s one where, you know, (Rivers) probably should have just ate it,” coach Anthony Lynn said.Instead, the Chargers got a cold slap of reality when their impressive roll through the middle of the season ended in gut-wrenching fashion. The Bolts had multiple opportunities to put away the Broncos while outgaining them 479-325 and keeping the ball for nearly 38 minutes, but LA was undone by turnovers, penalties, mental errors, a replay review, a fake punt and just about any other mistake you can conjure under the California sun.“When you make some errors we made today in critical moments, you open yourselves up to get beat, and that’s what happened today,” Rivers said. “We had every opportunity to close it out, and we just didn’t get it done.”After spending the previous five weeks on the road, the Chargers lost at home for only the second time in nine games since Oct. 1, 2017. Lynn saw plenty of blame to be distributed throughout his roster after his team’s first loss anywhere since Sept. 23.A fairly disciplined team committed a whopping 14 penalties for 120 yards. They ranged from the bizarre — Keenan Allen getting an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after his TD reception for trying on a championship belt held by a fan in the end zone stands — to the tired monotony of ordinary discipline lapses, including seven penalties in the first quarter alone.“You’ve got to be kidding me Travis Benjamin Color Rush Jersey ,” Lynn said after the Chargers racked up the most penalties of his 26-game tenure. “Those are things that we’ve stayed away from: penalties and turnovers. They showed up today, and for whatever reason, I don’t know. We’ll figure it out, though.”For the second straight week, the Chargers’ special-teamers were fooled by a fake punt — and Denver scored its first touchdown on the next snap in the second quarter. Mike Badgley also missed the Chargers’ NFL-worst seventh extra point.Rivers passed for 401 yards with two touchdowns, but the veteran also had multiple interceptions for the first time since a loss at Kansas City last December.The Chargers were up 19-7 and driving in Broncos territory late in the third quarter when Miller jumped a screen and returned his interception 42 yards , setting up a Denver TD just three plays later.After the teams traded the lead early in the fourth quarter, the Chargers thought they had forced a game-deciding turnover twice — only to see a fumble turned into an incomplete pass by video review, followed by an interception that was wiped out by a defensive holding penalty with 4:40 to play.Even after all of that, Los Angeles still needed just one score, one big play — even three yards and a cloud of dust.On their final drive, the Bolts had a second-and-3 play near midfield with 2:39 to play, needing only a first down to wrap it up. But after Denver’s final timeout, running back Melvin Gordon simply went the wrong way on a running play, and Rivers was forced to take a sack before the two-minute warning.“Ain’t no excuses for it,” Gordon said. “It’s the down to go get it to win the game. You just can’t make that mistake, and I did today. … It’s just puzzling and just frustrating. We know we could have won this game. We should have won this game, and everybody in this locker room knows that. We fell short.” The Chargers amazing come from behind victory against the AFC West leading Chiefs in Kansas City has been over for less than 20 minutes...which means it’s the perfect time to throw down some hot taeks while I’m high on the win.Philip Rivers is your new leader for MVPPatrick Mahomes is having an absurdly amazing season. He can do things from the QB position that are so rare, it’s hard to say I’ve seen anything like it. He is most certainly the league’s Offensive Player of the Year. But Philip Rivers is the MVP. Mahomes was without Sammy Watkins and has been without Kareem Hunt for 2 weeks after he was suspended by the league, and they got taken to overtime by the Baltimore Ravens Keenan Allen Color Rush Jersey , then lost at home, with probably a top 3 home field advantage in the NFL. Rivers has been without Melvin Gordon multiple times this season, including on the road against the Pittsburgh Steelers and here on the road against the Chiefs. He was without Keenan Allen for almost the entire game tonight. He has an inferior offensive line compared to what the Chiefs have. And what did Rivers do? He won. From behind. Both times. Not to mention Rivers hasn’t had a real “home game” in 2 years. It doesn’t matter who’s running routes, or who’s blocking in front of him this year. Rivers just has this team winning games. Rivers is your MVP. I never doubted Mike WilliamsOk, not really. But he is making me into one hell of a believer. Keenan Allen went down early tonight and Mike Williams stepped up exactly how you would expect from a guy drafted 7th overall. He was attacking the ball at the highest point, he was making great catches, he was running good routes, he was using his size and strength to bully defenders both before and after the catch. He wound up with 8 touches for 95 total yards and 3 total touchdowns. We all hope Keenan Allen winds up being ok, but Mike Williams just completely picked up the slack and probably more importantly, just established a TON of trust and confidence between himself and Rivers. The road to the Super Bowl is going to go through a 27k seat Soccer StadiumThe Chargers still need to win their last 2 games, and the Chiefs still need to lose one more (either on the road in Seattle or at home against the Raiders), but it could happen. For all of you that are still bitter from the move, I don’t know how you can’t root for that to happen. Think about how satisfying it will be to see Dean and the League embarrassed when they are forced to host at least one, and probably 2 playoff games, including an AFC Championship, in a stadium that seats less than 30k fans. Or possibly more embarrassing, force the Chargers to play “home” playoff games in a different stadium so they can sell more tickets. Or if you’re still just a fan of the Chargers, how amazing is it that the Chargers can now realistically taste the division championship and #1 seed. This Defense is ELITEThe Chargers defense, without either of the 2 interior defensive linemen projected to start before the season (Corey Liuget and Brandon Mebane), without Denzel Perryman at LB LaDainian Tomlinson Color Rush Jersey , and without Trevor Williams who started the season as CB2, just held the #1 offense in the NFL to under 300 Net Yards of offense and 28 points. Kansas City had been averaging 437.5 yards of offense and 36.2 points per game this season. Patrick Mahomes has only been held to less than 260 yards passing 3 times this season. 2 of those times were by this Chargers defense. This defense could still use a replacement for Jahleel Addae, a true NT, and maybe some help at ILB (although getting Kyzir White back could be at least a large part of that answer), and another solid corner. But even with that being the case, this Defense is putting the Chargers in position to win games time and time again. Chargers don’t have an RB2They have RB1, RB1A, RB1B, and RB1C. Melvin Gordon, Austin Ekeler, Justin Jackson, and Detrez Newsome are all starting quality running backs. Obviously Melvin Gordon is having an amazing season and has definitely established himself as the RB1 on this team. But the 3 guys behind him are all so capable, and versatile, that the offense doesn’t have to panic if Gordon isn’t available for a few weeks during the season. Yes it definitely helps that Rivers is playing like the league MVP this season, and that the defense is playing at an elite level. But you have to give Tom Telesco and his staff credit for finding this stable of backs, and Anthony Lynn and his staff for recognizing what they have in these guys and keeping them around.