San Diego Beats Worn Down Redskins In Final Minutes; Zorn Out

NFL News - January 4th, 2010 - Written by Bryan

Even the backups for the San Diego Chargers are incapable of losing. With a 23-20 victory in the regular season finale over Washington, the Chargers enter the playoffs riding an 11-game win-streak.

At 13-3, San Diego had clinched the second seed and a first-round bye two weeks ago, and could gain nothing by winning. But the prideful team, led in large part by reserves, had a fourth quarter rally to preserve the streak.

"You work hard to get to this point," San Diego head coach Norv Turner said in the post-game interview to the AP. "You work hard to position yourself. You work hard to get the bye and the home game. Now we want to take advantage of that."

Coming into the match-up, San Diego was listed as only a three-point favorite to defeat the Redskins according to the NFL Playoff Betting Lines. Oddsmakers determined that San Diego would likely play their backup players and that held true. With the three-point victory by the Chargers, the result was a push.

The over/under for the contest was set at 39 points and with the games total reaching 43, it went the over.

It was a compelling and exciting game despite the lack of importance. With the Chargers down 20-16 with under a minute to play, backup quarterback Billy Volek orchestrated a two-yard touchdown strike to the fullback Mike Tolbert, propelling San Diego to the win.

On the day, Volek saw significant playing time following starting QB Philip Rivers removal in the first half. Volek finished 19 of 30 for 216 yards and a touchdown.

It feels good to get hit again," Volek said in the post-game interview following his game-winning performance.

The Chargers had deactivated several starters for this game, and pulled the majority who did play early in the first half. The Chargers get a week off to rest players before the divisional round of the playoffs.

On the other sideline, the loss for Washington caps off a disappointing 4-12 season, and ended up being the final game for head coach Jim Zorn. Zorn was fired early Monday morning following a record of 12-20 under his tenure in two seasons as coach. This comes as no surprise as rumors had been circulating for several weeks amidst the performance of the team.

The Redskins were in control of the game the entire second half until the San Diego's final drive.

"It's a bad loss," Redskins receiver Malcolm Kelly said. "It's a terrible loss. With everything that has been going on with this whole team, today kind of sums it all up. You get to the end again and you have a game won and lose again. We have to find a way to put it together. I think we will. I think we should have done it a whole lot sooner this year."

The firing of Zorn will not likely be the only changes made in the off-season for the organization. The Redskins will have to address several holes on both sides of the football. QB Jason Campbell's status with the team remains up in the air as well.

"The team is going to be broken up in a lot of ways," Campbell said to the AP after the game.

San Diego's season continues, and they will await the highest remaining seed following the wild-card round of the 2009 NFL Playoffs this week.