But a blown assignment in punt formation allowed Mike Scifres’ kick to be blocked and Adam Hayward scooped it up and sprinted 29 yards for a score to put the Bucs up 17-14 with 8:55 remaining in the second quarter.

And then, as the half drew to a close, Rivers led the offense on a near perfect drive, finding wideout Malcom Floyd for a 3-yard score that put San Diego up 21-17 at the break.

Rivers had been brilliant. His passer rating was near perfect. It ended. With the Bucs up 24-21 and San Diego driving, Rivers rolled to his right. Nobody open. So he threw it anyway, straight into the arms of Leonard Johnson, who returned the pick 83 yards for a score.

Game, set and match.

Another loss because of bonehead plays. If and when Norv gets canned, it will be due to his team’s inability to play a complete game without screwing up just enough to cost it a victory. How Rivers, who can play so smart for so long and then throw a pass such as that, escapes me. And him.

Asked if he could explain it (again, not a bad question), his reply was a simple “No.” He did not elaborate. Unusual for him. But he probably doesn’t know.

“We killed ourselves,” he said. “We were rolling pretty good most of the game.

“This game is four quarters. You play really good for 58 minutes and have a couple bad minutes and you lose. That’s the way it goes.”

That’s the way it goes when you don’t play smart. That’s the way you fall another game behind Denver in the AFC West. A loss there next Sunday essentially would put the Chargers four games behind the Broncos with six games remaining. Turn off the grill.

So, when I hear someone like Alexander say, “I feel this team, we’re pretty good mentally. It’s going to be a fun week,” I know this is someone who’s been a Charger for three weeks.

Fun? Norv isn’t taking them to Disneyland. He should take them to a library. Maybe they can learn something.


