Bolts won’t apologize for key win

Like every game in the NFL, Sunday’s Chargers-Chiefs contest provided some good and some not-so-good plays for the Bolts, but a day after improving to 3-1 at home on the season, the Chargers weren’t about to apologize for the way things transpired at Qualcomm Stadium Sunday afternoon.

“There’s no bad win,” quarterback Philip Rivers said. “There are certainly wins where you didn’t play as well as you should and you still find a way. There are certain plays in that game that could have allowed it to not come down to the play that it did. Anytime you win, you win. It doesn’t count any more or less.”

Offensively, the good news came in the fact that the Bolts put up 400 yards of total offense and won the time of possession battle by nearly 10 minutes. The Chargers also converted 55 percent of their third downs.

“There’s a lot of good on that film,” Rivers said. “Ultimately we won. We did what we had to do to win the game. If you make a par, you make a par. They don’t care if you hit it in the woods and punch out and find a way. We won the game. We could have played a ton better and gotten beat and feel a lot worse.”

The flip side shows that Rivers threw a pair of interceptions and the Chargers were held to 3.5 yards per carry on the ground. Those are both areas they’d like to see improve, and while those areas won’t go overlooked this week in the Bolts’ preparation, they’re easier deal with when the result is a win.

“There are things that I’m disappointed in where we can play better,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “There are plays that I think we can handle better. There are things that we need to address. Obviously we have to play better. I would have preferred the game not to come down to the last play but it did and our guys handled it.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Bolts notched a win in their first game under new coordinator Ron Rivera. The Chargers didn’t come out of the shoot like they would have liked as Kansas City scored on their first drive and totaled 339 yards Sunday.

However, the Chargers take solace in the fact that they responded to some adjustments on defense and allowed only 106 yards in the second half, including just 27 in the third quarter.

“I liked the way our defense responded,” Turner said. “They came out at halftime, (the Chiefs’) longest drive was a five-play drive. They had three, three-and-outs and a four-and-out. I was very pleased by the fact that from a mindset we came out and were aggressive and covered better.”

On Sunday, Rivera took responsibility for the slow start defensively but praised his men for the way they responded.

“I was a little rusty in terms of mixing up my play calls,” Rivera said. “I had to get used to it. Unfortunately we made a couple mistakes we had to sure up and we will sure up. I’ve got to get a little bit more of a rhythm going for the guys, which we did in the second half.”

With the win behind them, the Chargers now prepare for another big road test. They travel to Pittsburgh Sunday to face the 5-3 Steelers and the Bolts acknowledge they’ll have to be much better in Week 11.

“Every week you have to find a week to play better,” Turner said. “Obviously Pittsburgh is the number one defense in the league. They’re number one in most categories. They’ve played extremely well at their place. They’re an outstanding football team. They’ve got talented players on offense. They had struggles yesterday. They had turnovers that kept them from winning the game against Indianapolis. We’ll have to go play our best.”

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