It wasn't easy, but the San Diego Chargers finally stopped the Pittsburgh Steelers and said hello to a bye.
Natrone Means' 20-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 with 4:32 left tied the game and John Carney's 32-yard field with 3 seconds left gave the Chargers a 37-34 victory in a battle of division champions on Saturday.Carney's third field goal of the game capped a 28-point fourth quarter in which Chargers quarterback Stan Humphries was knocked out with a bruised right thumb.
The Chargers (11-5), winners of the AFC West, clinched the AFC's second seed and a first-round bye. They'll be host in a divisional game the weekend of Jan. 7-8.
The AFC Central champion Steelers (12-4) already had clinched the first seed and home-field advantage through the playoffs. They had nothing to gain but momentum, and their seven-game winning streak ended.
The Steelers, also idle the first weekend of the playoffs, rested several injured players and went to the second string early.
San Diego blew an 11-point third-quarter lead, then won the game behind backup Gale Gilbert, who finished one scoring drive and led two more.
With the Chargers trailing 34-27, a drive was extended on a roughing-the-passer call on third-and-11 from the Pittsburgh 44. Four plays later, Means ran off right tackle for his second TD of the afternoon.
The Chargers started their final drive from the Pittsburgh 48 with 2:39 to play. The key play was a 15-yard completion to Mark Seay to the 29.
The Chargers went up 24-13 when Means ran 2 yards untouched to finish the opening drive of the second half, which went 78 yards in 17 plays and took 7 minutes, 39 seconds.
Steelers backup quarterback Mike Tomczak returned from a sprained knee in the first half and directed a 7-play, 83-yard drive that fourth-string running back Fred McAfee capped with a 6-yard run with 3:05 left in the third.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Tomczak and rookie Charles Johnson combined on an 84-yard scoring pass. Johnson pulled in Tomczak's short pass, slipped Darrien Gordon's tackle at the 25 and was gone. Dwight Stone caught the conversion pass to give Pittsburgh a 27-24 lead.
Humphries was hurt on the next drive, and Carney's 40-yard field goal tied it with with 10:29 left.
Tomczak hit Johnson on a 51-yarder to set up an 11-yard touchdown pass to Andre Hastings that gave Pittsburgh a 34-27 lead.
Humphries was 21-of-35 for 249 yards and one touchdown, Gilbert 3-of-6 for 24. Tomczak was 10-of-16 for 248 yards and two TDs, Means had 85 yards on 22 carries, and Johnson had 165 yards on four catches.
The teams combined for 27 points in the second quarter, including Andre Coleman's 90-yard kickoff return and two successful drives in the final two minutes.
After Gary Anderson's 28-yard field goal tied the game 3-3, Coleman caught the kickoff at the 10, angled toward the left sideline, got a key block from Rodney Harrison and outran Myron Bell and Darren Perry into the end zone with 8:53 left in the quarter.
Coleman became the first player in Chargers history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a season. He had an 80-yard scoring return in a 23-17 loss at New England on Nov. 20.
The Steelers started from their 44 with 2 minutes left, with O'Donnell throwing a 19-yard TD pass to Johnson for a 13-10 lead with 1 minute left.
Humphries directed a 73-yard drive, throwing a 2-yard TD pass to Mark Seay, who did a backflip after giving San Diego a 17-13 lead 26 seconds before halftime.
Carney kicked a 37-yard field goal in the first quarter and Anderson had a 28-yarder in the second quarter.