End Zone

They finished 13-4 and won their fourth-consecutive AFC Western Division championship. But is there any possible way to remember the Chargers’ 2009 season without thinking solely of the devastating playoff loss to the New York Jets?

Well…yes…and no.

Here’s a look back at the Top 10 moments from the season just past — a season (not?) to remember: 

1. HE KICKED THE FLAG?? No matter what else happened this past season, losing the playoff to the Jets will still be what’s remembered most. Fair or unfair, it’s just the way that it is. Vincent Jackson kicking the red challenge flag, and drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, didn’t cost the Chargers the game, but it epitomized the frustration and the failure — again!! — of the Bolts in the postseason.

2. HE CAUGHT THE BALL!! Vincent Jackson gets the nod for Moment No. 2 as well. Hauling in a Philip Rivers pass in the right corner of the end zone (above), Jackson completed an 80-yard drive in the final two minutes, giving the Chargers a 21-20 come-from-behind victory over the New York Giants. At the time, it was easily the Bolts’ biggest win of the season, and it started everybody believing that perhaps this could be San Diego’s year.

3. HE STOPPED HIM! AGAIN! AGAIN! AND AGAIN!!Linebacker Brandon Siler led a goal-line stand in Dallas that helped knock off the Cowboys, 20-17, in December. Time and again Dallas slammed big back Marion Barber into the line, and time and again Siler and his Continue Reading →

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