Chargers obliterate Lions

SAN DIEGO -- On the last day of September, the San Diego Chargers lost for the third time in four games and their fans were chanting the name of the coach who was fired in February.

Norv Turner was Public Enemy No. 1. LaDainian Tomlinson was a frustrated non-factor.

Fast forward 11 weeks, and the Chargers are AFC West champions with two games to play.

They left no doubt in clinching the title Sunday, beating the punchless Detroit Lions 51-14. It was their fourth straight win and eighth in 10 games.

"It isn't our main goal, but it feels good to win the division, especially starting 1-3," said Tomlinson, who had 116 yards and 2 scores on 15 carries to continue his climb up the career rushing and touchdown charts.

"It doesn't matter how you start but how you finish."

In Tomlinson's case, that's huge because he's 0-2 in the playoffs during his brilliant career.

With their third division crown in four years secured, the Chargers (9-5) need simply to win out to secure the AFC's No. 3 playoff seed.

The next challenge, of course, is finding a way to win in January. The Chargers have dropped four straight postseason games dating to their embarrassing Super Bowl loss to San Francisco on Jan. 29, 1995. Since then, it's been one-and-done three times, including last year's pratfall against New England after they went an NFL-best 14-2 under Marty Schottenheimer.

This rout was so complete that L.T. got the second half off. Backup Michael Turner hurt a shoulder in the second quarter, which allowed Darren Sproles to run for 122 yards and 2 TDs. It was the first time in Chargers history that two backs rushed for more than 100 yards in the same game.

It helped immensely that Detroit's Jon Kitna tied his career-high with 5 interceptions. Three of them came in the span of six plays in the first half, leading to 17 points. Detroit had 6 turnovers total, leading to 27 points.

Detroit has lost six straight following its 6-2 start.

"When it goes bad for us, it goes really bad. I'm not sure why," Kitna said.

Tomlinson passed Eddie George and Tiki Barber and took over 19th place on the career rushing list with 10,487 yards. His 2 touchdowns give him 127, moving him past Jim Brown (126) for sixth place all time. He and Eric Dickerson are the only players in NFL history to rush for more than 1,200 yards in each of their first seven seasons.