2012 San Diego Chargers season The San Diego Chargers season was the franchise ' s 43rd season in the National Football league , the 53rd overall and the sixth under head coach Norv Turner . The Chargers failed to improve on their 8 – 8 record from 2011 and missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season , resulting in Turner ' s firing on December 31 , 2012 . Schedule . Preseason . The Chargers ' preseason schedule was announced on April 4 , 2012 . Game summaries . Week 1 : at Oakland Raiders . The Chargers ( 1 – 0 ) won their season opener 22 – 14 against the Oakland Raiders after five field goal s by Nate Kaeding and three botched punt s by the Raiders . The Raiders Pro Bowl long snapper Jon Condo suffered a head injury in the second quarter . He was replaced by linebacker Travis Goethel , who had not snapped since high school . Goethel rolled two snaps to punter Shane Lechler , each giving the Chargers the ball in Raiders territory , and Lechler had another punt blocked by Dante Rosario . The Chargers scored their only touchdown in the second quarter after a 13 - play , 90 - yard drive resulted in a 6 - yard touchdown pass from Philip Rivers to wide receiver Malcom Floyd . The Chargers failed to score four out of five times in the red zone . San Diego led at halftime 10 – 6 , and the Raiders did not scored a touchdown until 54 seconds remained in the game . Undrafted rookie Mike Harris made his first NFL start , filing in for left tackle for an injured Jared Gaither . San Diego protected Harris by having Rivers throw short passes ; sixteen of Rivers ' 24 completions were to running back s and tight end s , and he threw for 231 yards while only being sacked once . He did not have an interception after throwing 20 in 2011 . The win was the Chargers ' eighth in their previous nine games at Oakland . It improved Norv Turner ' s record to 4 – 2 in Chargers ' season openers . Running back Ryan Mathews and receiver Vincent Brown missed the game with injuries . Week 2 : vs . Tennessee Titans . With the win , the Chargers improved to 2 - 0 and started with such a record for the first time since 2006 . Week 3 : vs . Atlanta Falcons . The Chargers lost 27 – 3 to the Atlanta Falcons , who remained one of three undefeated teams in the league . Rivers had one of his worst statistical performances , completing 21 of 38 passes for 173 yards , with two interceptions and a passer rating of 45 . 2 . Running back Ryan Matthews made his season debut , and ran for 44 yards on 10 carries . However , he had a fumble inside the Falcons ' 5 - yard line . The Chargers had four turnovers to the Atlanta ' s one . The Chargers had not been held to three points since a 30 – 3 loss at Miami during the 2002 season . The Falcons improved to a perfect 3 – 0 all - time record in San Diego while the Chargers dropped to 2 - 1 on the season while suffering a television blackout in Southern California . Week 4 : at Kansas City Chiefs . The Chargers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 37 – 20 and started the season with a 3 – 1 record for the second consecutive year . San Diego forced the Chiefs into six turnovers , and they led 20 – 0 in the second quarter . Rivers completed 18 of 23 passes for 209 yards and two touchdown passes , but threw one interception in the red zone . Jackie Battle started at running back instead of Mathews . Battle was in 27 plays compared to Mathews ' 21 , and he had 15 carries for 39 yards with a team - high four catches for 42 yards . Most of Mathews work was in the fourth quarter when San Diego ' s victory was mostly already decided . " U - T San Diego " wrote that Mathews would have been expected to start were it not for his fumble against Atlanta the prior week . Nick Novak filled in for kicker Nate Kaeding , who was out with a groin injury , and made all three of his field goals . Week 5 : at New Orleans Saints . San Diego led 24 – 14 in the third quarter before the New Orleans Saints rallied for a 31 – 24 victory . The Chargers ' Melvin Ingram was called for roughing the passer , nullifying a Drew Brees interception returned for a touchdown that would have put the Chargers ahead 31 – 14 . Rivers had two costly turnovers in the fourth quarter : an interception that led to a Saints field goal and a fumble as San Diego was driving to tie the score in the game ' s last minute . With the loss , San Diego missed an opportunity to take a two - game lead over the Denver Broncos for the AFC West . The Chargers dropped to 3 - 2 while the Saints would get their first win of the season and improve to 1 - 4 . Brees , a former Charger , broke an NFL record with his 48th straight game with a touchdown pass . He finished with 370 yards and four touchdown passes . Rivers threw for 354 yards and two touchdowns , both to former Saint Robert Meachem ; they were Meachem ' s first touchdowns of the season . Week 6 : vs . Denver Broncos . The Chargers lost 35 – 24 to the Denver Broncos after leading 24 – 0 at halftime . The loss tied San Diego with Denver for the AFC West lead with a 3 – 3 record . Rivers had a career - high six turnovers , five in the second half . One of his interceptions and one of his fumbles were returned by the Broncos for touchdowns . He had four interceptions , including three in the fourth quarter . The Chargers built their first half lead after two special teams fumble recoveries and an 80 - yard touchdown return by Quentin Jammer off a Peyton Manning interception . It was the first score of Jammer ' s career . Rivers also threw two touchdowns to Antonio Gates in the first half . After the game , Fox Sports insider Jay Glazer reported that the Chargers used an " illegal stickum - type sustance " during the game , and a Chargers equipment member was caught by the line judge hiding and handing out the substance to players , which was confiscated by the league . Chargers head coach Norv Turner denied that the team cheated , and stated that the object was a towel with a substance that dries footballs . The product was later identified as Gorilla Gold Grip Enhancer . On November 7 , the league stated that the Chargers did not cheat , but fined the team $ 20 , 000 . Week 8 : at Cleveland Browns . San Diego ( 3 – 4 ) lost their third straight game , 7 – 6 on the road to the Cleveland Browns ( 2 - 6 ) . After blowing second - half leads the past two games in consecutive losses , the Chargers never led in this game . Both offenses struggled with wind blowing to more than and rain falling throughout the entire game . Rivers was 18 of 34 for 154 yards , but had a touchdown pass dropped by Meachem in the third quarter . With the Chargers forced to run because of the bad weather , Mathews ran 24 times for 95 yards . The Browns ' Trent Richardson ran for 122 yards and a touchdown . It was the second game of the year the Chargers did not score an offensive touchdown . The last time San Diego failed to score a touchdown in two or more games was in 2000 , when it occurred three times . With the Broncos ' win that same week , the Chargers fell into a second place tie with the Raiders in the AFC West . Week 9 : vs . Kansas City Chiefs . The Chargers ( 4 - 4 ) won 31 – 13 in a home game against Kansas City ( 1 - 7 ) , their second win in the season against the Chiefs . San Diego ' s defense scored two touchdowns , and Rivers completed 90 % ( 18 - 20 ) of his passes , the fifth highest completion percentage in NFL history . Rivers threw a touchdown to Gates in the opening drive of the game , and threw another to Floyd in the fourth quarter . The defense followed with Jarret Johnson ' s sack of the Chiefs ' Matt Cassel , which caused a fumble that was recovered by Shaun Phillips for a San Diego touchdown . On the next drive , Demorrio Williams intercepted Cassel ' s pass and returned it for a 59 - yard touchdown . Rivers threw for 220 yards , but had an interception in the red zone to end the first half . Danario Alexander started at wide receiver for an injured Meachem , and receiver Eddie Royal also sat out the game . Nose tackle Antonio Garay played his first game of the year . Some fans at halftime held a sign that read " Mr . Spanos , please fire A . J . & Norv . " Team president Dean Spanos in January had decided to bring back coach Norv Turner and general manager A . J . Smith despite having won only one playoff game in four seasons , failing to qualify in the previous two season . Week 10 : at Tampa Bay Buccaneers . San Diego ( 4 – 5 ) lost 34 – 24 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ( 5 – 4 ) , dropping the Chargers two games behind division - leading Denver . The Chargers allowed touchdowns off a blocked punt and an interception after they led 21 – 17 at halftime . They had three touchdowns off 80 - yard drives in the first half , when Rivers threw three touchdown while completing 16 of 18 passes for 218 yards and no interceptions . However , he three two interceptions in the fourth quarter , including one that was returned 83 yards for a touchdown that he threw heading out of bounds to avoid a sack . Alexander had five receptions for 134 yards , including an 80 - yard touchdown . Vincent Jackson , who left the Chargers as a free agent for Tampa Bay , had five receptions for 59 yards in his first game against San Diego . Week 11 : at Denver Broncos . The Chargers ( 4 – 6 ) fell three games behind Denver ( 7 – 3 ) for the division lead after losing to them 30 – 23 . Denver linebacker Von Miller had three sacks and forced two fumbles as the defense rattled Rivers . " This is the best defensive team they ' ve had since I ' ve been playing them , " said Rivers . The Chargers offense was shutout in the first half . Their first 12 possession resulted in 10 punts and two turnovers . Rivers was 9 - for - 20 for 60 yards and an interception , and the running game had only 8 yards on 11 attempts . The Chargers first 9 points of the game were scored by the defense — an interception returned for a touchdown by Eric Weddle , and a safety by Shaun Phillips . Rivers threw for 198 of his 258 years in the second half while throwing two touchdowns . Manning finished the game with 270 yards and three touchdown for Denver . Denver swept the season series against the Chargers , giving them the advantage in a tiebreaker with San Diego if needed . " They ' re not losing four of six , I can guarantee you that , " Rivers said in conceding the division . He was part of the 2008 team that trailed Denver by three games with three remaining before winning the division as the Broncos collapsed . Week 12 : vs . Baltimore Ravens . San Diego ( 4 – 7 ) led 13 – 3 with 7 : 51 remaining in the game before losing 16 – 13 in overtime to the Baltimore Ravens ( 9 – 2 ) . The Ravens faced fourth - and - 29 at their own 37 with 1 : 37 left when running back Ray Rice caught a pass one yard past the line of scrimmage . He ran to the 50 - yard line , where he made three Chargers miss with a 90 - degree cut to his left . Rice gained the 29 yards needed for a first down after escaping safety Eric Weddle , who received a concussion on the play as he was blocked by wide receiver Anquan Boldin . The Ravens kicked a 38 - yard field goal to tie the game at the end of regulation , and made another 38 - yarder to win with 1 : 07 left in overtime . Rivers threw a 21 - yard touchdown to Floyd and Novak kicked two field goals for the Chargers ' scores . Rivers was sacked six times , but did not have a turnover for only the third time in 11 games ; he entered the contest with 14 interceptions and four lost fumbles . The Ravens ' fourth - and - 29 was the longest fourth - down conversion in the NFL since 2001 . It was the third time the Chargers blew a double - digit lead in the second half , including the earlier back - to - back losses to the Saints and Broncos . After being 8 – 0 under Turner in November from 2009 – 2010 , San Diego fell to 1 – 7 , the second - worst November record in the league since 2011 . Week 13 : vs . Cincinnati Bengals . The Cincinnati Bengals ( 7 – 5 ) scored the go - ahead touchdown with 4 : 51 remaining in the game and defeated the Chargers ( 4 – 8 ) , 20 – 13 . San Diego surrendered 10 points in the final five minutes of regulation for the second consecutive week , and they lost for the fourth straight week and seventh time in eight games . The Chargers dropped to 0 – 5 in games decided by seven points or fewer . It was their fourth loss in a game when holding a fourth - quarter lead . Williams intercepted Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and returned it for a 31 - yard touchdown , his second score of the season . Rivers had two turnovers in the final 3 : 54 . A fumble set up a field goal for the Bengals , and he threw an interception on fourth - and - 10 from Cincinnati ' s 17 with 49 seconds remaining . The Chargers ' offense was held without a touchdown for the third time in the season . The Charger ' s home crowd of 54 , 980 was their lowest since 2004 . It was their second straight blackout and third of the season . Meachem did not have a pass thrown to him for the second straight week ; it was his fifth game without a catch . Week 14 : at Pittsburgh Steelers . With a surprising road victory over the Steelers to save their playoff hopes after losing four straight games , the Chargers improved to 5 - 8 on the season and 1 - 14 all - time in Pittsburgh during the regular season . The Steelers became the only AFC North team that San Diego would defeat this season . Week 15 : vs . Carolina Panthers . With the loss , the Chargers fall to 5 - 9 and are officially eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight year . The Charger ' s home crowd of 53 , 832 was their lowest since 2004 . It was their third straight blackout at home and fourth of the season . With the way ticket sales have been going , San Diego ' s home finale against the Raiders is expected to sellout , thus ending the home blackout streak . Also , the team finished the season 0 - 4 against NFC Opponents and would see their first losing season since 2003 .