But They Tried Hard

Well, the Patriots are going to the Super Bowl and the Chargers are going home.

In other news, it's cold in Green Bay.

Yeah, this was a real tough game to call.

But, you know, this Chargers season will still be considered a smashing success around here.

Why? Because we ask very little of our sports teams in this town. This is a town that goes wild when the Padres win the NL West, as if being champions of the most overrated division in baseball is something to boast about.

So the Chargers playing in the AFC championship game against what may be The Best Team Ever might be reason to build a statue of Norv Turner.

Well, if he weren't Norv Turner.

Which brings us to Sunday's game. We're not going to bore ourselves with the details of the Chargers' 21-12 loss, but what if Norv would have been a little more aggressive? If Norv would have gone for it on just one of those fourth-down calls in the first half, rather than settle for a field goal, it would have completely changed the tone of the game. If the Chargers would've scored a touchdown on one of those first-half drives, they would've come out with more confidence and aggressiveness in the second half.

But, of course, it didn't happen. And the tone of the game was set. As the game went on, it became clear that Philip Rivers had a better chance of scoring with Gisele Bundchen than he did of reaching the Patriots' end zone.

Many Charger fans were left wondering about LaDainian Tomlinson. He wasn't even listed on the injury report by the end of the week, and heading into the game, LT insisted he would be fine. But if you were five minutes late arriving to your favorite sports bar Sunday, you missed all of LT's contributions to this game. If this were a TV show -- and let's face it, that's what the NFL is -- LT's performance Sunday would be called a cameo appearance.

But at least LT should be in good condition to start filming more commercials any day now.

Meanwhile, it seems Nick Hardwick is whining about Patriots defensive lineman Richard Seymour. Nice to see the Chargers are still able to accept defeat with dignity and class.