Bolts Clinch First Round Bye

The Tennessee Titans made a nice run after starting off 0 - 6 and it would have been a great story if they fought back to make the playoffs but it wasn't to be. Instead the San Diego Chargers vs Tennessee Titans game goes to the Chargers, 42 - 17, and the Titans are officially eliminated from the 2009 playoffs. On the other hand it's all good news for the Chargers as they wrap up a first round bye when the post-season kicks off in two weeks.

After the Titans got off to a good start by taking a 3 - 0 lead it was all Chargers from that point on. San Diego took the lead 7 - 3 on a LaDainian Tomlinson one yard touchdown run and never looked back. Two touchdown passes from Philip Rivers, one to Antonio Gates and one to Darren Sproles, extended the Chargers lead to 21 - 3. A late second quarter touchdown from the Titans kept the game within reach at 21 - 10 going into halftime.

Coming out in the third quarter the Chargers put any hopes the Titans had of coming back to rest as they piled on two more touchdowns to stretch their lead to 35 - 10 heading into the final quarter. San Diego put the exclamation point onto their dominance in this game with another Sproles touchdown, this time a one yard run to make it 42 - 10. A meaningless Titans touchdown late in the fourth capped the scoring as the game ended 42 - 17.

The only thing to note from that late Titans touchdown was that it was Chris Johnson who scored the touchdown on a 30 yard run which gave him 142 rushing yards for the game. This puts him at 1,872 total rushing yards for the season, just 128 yards from that elusive 2,000 rushing yards on the season. If he can tear it up next week in the final game of the season and pile up 234 yards he will break the all time rushing record for a season of 2,105.

So the Titans season is done and the Chargers keep on rolling towards the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in the NFL. They have now won 10 games in a row and sit with the third best record in the league at 12 - 3. They secure the first round bye which history shows is a huge advantage in a run towards a Superbowl title.