By Tim Peterson
(Inglewood) -J.K. Dobbins broke off a 29-yard touchdown run with 18 seconds left to lift the Chargers to a 34-27 win over Cincinnati Sunday night before 70, 240 fans at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers got the ball back at their own 16-yard line with 45 seconds left. They moved the ball down to the Bengals 29 on a couple of big plays including a 28-yard pass to Ladd McConkey to set up Dobbins’ run.
The Chargers were up 27-6 early in the third quarter after a field goal by Cameron Dicker “The Kicker”. But the Bengals erased the 21-point deficit and rallied to tie it early in the fourth quarter. The two teams exchanged possessions before Dobbins won it for the Chargers.
The Bengals scored first on their second possession when they moved the ball down to the Chargers 8-yard line where the drive stalled. Evan McPherson kicked a 26-yard field goal for the first points of the game. The highlight of the drive was a 32-yard pass from Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase down to the Chargers 32-yard line.
On the next series the Chargers marched 70 yards on five plays. Justin Herbert hit Will Dissly over the middle for a 29-yard touchdown and LA went up 7-3 with 3:34 left in the first quarter.
The Bengals again were stopped in the Red Zone early in the second quarter. McPherson kicked a 27-yard field goal to make it 7-6.
The Chargers needed just four plays to strike again. They went 71 yards with Quentin Johnston hauling in a 26-yard touchdown pass from Herbert to give LA a 14-6 lead with just over 11 minutes left in the second quarter.
The Chargers went for it on fourth and goal from the one-yard line later in the quarter and Dobbins cashed in with a dive over the pile for the score. The play capped a nine-play, 66-yard drive and increased the Chargers lead to 21-6 with 4:35 left in the second quarter. The score was set up by a 30-yard run by Herbert down to the Cincinnati 31-yard line.
After forcing another Bengals punt the Chargers marched all the way down to the Cincinnati one-yard line with four seconds left in the first half. Dicker then booted a 19-yard field goal to increase the Chargers lead to 24-6 at halftime
Dicker split the uprights from 53 yards out early in the third quarter to give the Chargers a 27-6 advantage and all was good for the Charger faithful. And then things got weird.
The Bengals finally put a drive together on the next series going 70 yards on 11 plays. Burrow found Chase over the middle for a four-yard pass for Cincinnati’s first touchdown of the game. The score was set up by a 27-yard run by Chase Brown as the Bengals cut the Chargers lead to 27-13 with 5:27 remaining in the third.
Things got really interesting later in the quarter when the Chargers shanked a punt setting up the Bengals at midfield. On fourth down Burrow hit a wide-open Tee Higgins, who got behind the Chargers secondary, for a 42-yard touchdown. Suddenly it was 27-20 LA with 2:53 left in the third quarter.
The Chargers then drove into Bengals territory on the next possession but Herbert was hit and fumbled and the ball was recovered by Geno Stone of the Bengals on the 29-yard line.
The Bengals capitalized on the turnover going 71 yards on seven plays. Burrow hit Chase on a 17-yard touchdown toss to tie it at 27 with 12:21 left in the fourth quarter.
The Chargers were forced to punt but McPherson missed a 48-yard field goal attempt with 7:31 left and the game remained tied at 27.
McPherson missed yet another field goal attempt -this one from 51 yards out- and the Chargers took over at their own 41 with 1:41 left.
But the Chargers went three and out and punted it back to Cincinnati with 1:26 left.
The Bengals also had to punt less than a minute later after failing to get a first down and the Chargers had the ball at their own 16 with 45 seconds left.
Dobbins then got loose to set up the celebration at SoFi.
Burrow had one last heave into the endzone for the Bengals but the pass was broken up.
For the Chargers Herbert had a big game completing 17 of 36 for 297 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. Herbert has thrown only one pick all year. He also rushed for 65 yards on five carries. Dobbins had 56 yards and the two scores on 11 carries. McConkey hauled in six receptions for 123 yards.
For the Bengals Burrow was 28 of 50 for 356 yards and three touchdowns. Brown ran for 86 yards on 22 carries and Higgins had nine catches for 148 yards and a score.
The Chargers improved to 7-3 with the win while the Bengals dropped to 4-7. The Chargers, who were featured on Sunday Night Football against the Bengals, have another prime-time game next week when they face the Baltimore Ravers on Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium.
CN 3 3 14 7 27
LA 7 17 3 7 34
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