{"id":200963,"date":"2024-11-19T13:00:04","date_gmt":"2024-11-19T18:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=200963"},"modified":"2024-11-18T22:05:50","modified_gmt":"2024-11-19T03:05:50","slug":"the-huge-special-teams-play-that-ignited-a-chargers-playoff-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/19\/the-huge-special-teams-play-that-ignited-a-chargers-playoff-run\/","title":{"rendered":"The Huge Special Teams Play That Ignited A Chargers Playoff Run"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Chargers are coming off one of the most emotional victories they have had in decades, possibly leading to a special Chargers playoff run. This feeling is special as fans are used to the heartbreaking blown leads, failed comeback attempts, and last-second miscues. They are so used to this that term &#8220;Chargering&#8221; became a thing, and describes exactly what happened for so long.<\/p>\n<p>On primetime television, the Chargers were completely destroying the extremely talented Cincinnati Bengals, getting up to an early 24 to 6 lead. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/10\/22\/justin-herbert-is-the-nfl-equivalent-of-the-tale-of-sisyphus\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Super-star quarterback Justin Herbert<\/a> was absolutely dealing, finding anyone and everyone. With a perfect passer rating at the half, it looked like the Chargers were ready to blow out the once superbowl hopeful Bengals.<\/p>\n<p>Then the second half happened.<\/p>\n<h2>The Los Angeles Chargers Collapse in the Second Half<\/h2>\n<p>The Chargers further their lead to 27-6 at the start of the third quarter, making this game a hefty three-possession lead. However, the Bengals and Joe Burrow march seventy yards and score their first touchdown of the game cutting the lead.<\/p>\n<p>After a quick Chargers three and out, the Bengals scored in four plays now making this game a one possession football game. Chargers fans were on the couch with a familiar feeling. The feeling of the impending doom that is watching your team &#8220;Charger&#8221; the game away.<\/p>\n<p>A strong ensuing drive by the Chargers was ready for a score, but a fluky fumble from Herbert allowed Cincinnati to score once more. Tie ball game. 27-27.<\/p>\n<p>With the game tied and the &#8220;Chargering&#8221; in full effect, you can feel the panic in the building. From excitement to fear. A quick punt from the Chargers gave the ball right back to Joe Burrow and his squad, giving him a chance to score. Luckily for the Bolts, Bengals Kicker, Evan McPherson missed a 48-yard field goal to take the lead. Game is still tied.<\/p>\n<p>The Chargers once again saw a sad three and out and ready for a punt. What came next was what finally woke up the storm.<\/p>\n<h3>The Play That Changed The Tides: Sparking a Chargers Playoff Run<\/h3>\n<p>With all momentum sucked out of the Chargers offense, the Bolts are in punt formation ready for their fourth punt of the half. Then <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/chargers\/status\/1857900458481750398\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recently-signed special teams ace<\/a>, Shaquille Quarterman drove down the field at full speed and completely laid the boom on the Bengals returner.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Shaq Quarterman was coming in HOT. \ud83d\udd25 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cnbw44kg5t\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/cnbw44kg5t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SNFonNBC\/status\/1858556124112334916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>A hit that lit up the sound box, and made the crowd blow up. The energy was back for the team and the home Chargers fans. Sometimes in a game of x&#8217;s and o&#8217;s, all you need is a grown man to completely annihilate another. A feeling that can spread down the sideline in a hurry.<\/p>\n<p>After the said hit on the punt return, the Bengals once again missed a crucial field goal, allowing the Chargers to have another crack at the endzone. This time, well, they punted again. However, the defense responded and stopped the Bengals, forcing a punt, using the energy given by the physicality of Quarterman.<\/p>\n<p>The Chargers had one final chance to end this game and add another one to the win column. The energy in the building was restored, a hungry Herbert, and a team ready to change the narrative that they are the &#8220;same old Chargering Chargers&#8221; drove down the field in four plays regaining the lead. 34-27.<\/p>\n<p>After a three-play drive that ended due to a lack of time on the board, the Chargers won, giving them their best chance at a playoff run in a few years, this time with the narrative that they won&#8217;t &#8220;Charger&#8221; it away. <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/18\/cincinnati-bengals-beat-frustration-mounting-for-joe-burrow\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">The Bengals go home in shambles.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Playoff Chance After The Primetime Showdown<\/h3>\n<p>After this win against the Bengals, NFL.com has the Chargers<a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/nfl-playoff-picture-chargers-chances-214719166.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> have a 91% chance to make the playoffs<\/a>. With the Ravens loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bolts moved up to the fifth seed, giving they a stronger matchup if the Chargers playoff season started today. A staggering change from the disappointment that was the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2023\/12\/11\/is-there-any-point-of-watching-the-chargers-anymore\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Chargers 2023 season<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>As for the Bengals, they went <a href=\"https:\/\/stripehype.com\/bengals-playoff-hopes-take-enormous-hit-following-disappointing-loss-to-chargers-01jcy7f2c9qr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">from 36% of making the playoffs to 17%<\/a>. A long shot for what was once the super-bowl contending team.<\/p>\n<p>The Shaq Quarterman hit was much more than just a complete smacking of the Bengals returner. It was the play that sparked this Chargers playoff run. A team winning in all three phases of the game, the Chargers can be a real contender.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Gary A. Vasquez &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Coming off one of the best victories in recent memory, The Chargers playoff run has been sparked. All due to one special teams play.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4709,"featured_media":200995,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,54],"tags":[7642,5579,7429,32831],"class_list":["post-200963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chargers","category-editorials","tag-chargers-featured","tag-justin-herbert","tag-los-angeles-chargers-news","tag-shaq-quarterman"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}