By Tim Peterson
(Inglewood) – The Chargers defense held Pittsburgh to just one touchdown and the offense did enough to beat Pittsburgh 25-10 on Sunday Night Football before 72, 174 fans at SoFi Stadium.
The Chargers limited quarterback Aaron Rodgers to 161 yards passing and a touchdown and intercepted him two times. The Steelers had just 73 total yards rushing.
Pittsburgh got on the board first before the Chargers ran off 25 straight points. After each team punted on their opening possessions Chris Boswell kicked a 59-yard field goal to put Pittsburgh up 3-0 early in the first quarter.
On the next possession a Chargers punt pinned the Steelers at their own five-yard line. Rodgers was then sacked in the endzone by Khalil Mack for a safety to make it 3-2.
Early in the second quarter Boswell missed a 45-yard field goal after the Steelers drive stalled at the Chargers 27.
Cameron Dicker put the Chargers on top for good with 7:32 left in the second quarter with a 32-yard field goal to make it 5-3.
RJ Mickens intercepted Rodgers to set up the Chargers at the Steelers 38-yard line with 2:09 left in the second quarter. That led to a 15-yard touchdown pass from Justin Herbert to Ladd McConkey to put the Chargers up 12-3 with 12 seconds left in the second quarter.
LA took the 12-3 lead into the halftime break.
Dicker matched Boswell’s 59-yard field goal in the third quarter as he nailed one with 6:07 left in the quarter to make it 15-3.
Dicker missed a 45-yard field goal with 45 seconds left in the third quarter and the score remained 15-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Steelers tried to get back in it as they moved the ball down to the Chargers 10-yard line but were stopped on fourth down. The Chargers then promptly marched 90 yards on six plays highlighted by a 58-yard pass from Herbert to McConkey. Kimani Vidal capped it with a two-yard touchdown run with 9:26 left in the fourth quarter to give the Chargers a 19-point lead.
On the next possession Donte Jackson stepped in front of a Rodgers pass and returned it to the Steeler 39-yard line but the Chargers were unable to take advantage.
The Chargers did take advantage later in the quarter when the Steelers muffed a punt and the Chargers were in business again at the Pittsburgh 21-yard line. On fourth down Dicker booted a 42-yard field goal to make it 25-3 with 4:24 left.
The Steelers put together an eight-play, 65-yard drive with Rodgers hitting Roman Wilson for a 27-yard score to cut the lead to 25-10 with 2:57 left.
The Chargers were able to run out the clock from there.
For the Chargers Herbert completed 20 of 33 for 220 yards and a touchdown. McConkey had four catches for 107 yards and a score and Quentin Johnston caught five for 42 yards.
Keenan Allen had two receptions for 19 yards but on his second catch late in the fourth quarter he became the Chargers all-time leading receiver passing Hall of Famer Antonio Gates. Herbert hit Allen on a seven-yard shovel pass for the record-breaker. The play was suggested by Allen to head coach Jim Harbaugh.
With the victory the Chargers improved to 7-3 while the Steelers fell to 5-4. Next up for the Chargers is a road game next Sunday at Jacksonville.
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I second that; Tim and his friends provide a great platform for high school football and sports in general.
Hopefully I speak for a ton of this site’s readers when I say to Tim Peterson: THANKS FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO.
It is on TV and our phones you know.
From T. Peterson: Right but you can say that about every NFL and college game that is covered. But the good thing about writing is that it is chronicled forever. You can’t just go back and watch the game on TV or your phone again but you can always pull it up on a website and read the story or back in the day read it in the newspaper. That’s why reporters do what they do. We record or “chronicle” the information. Thanks for reading.