From the start it wasn’t pretty.
The San Diego Chargers scorched Jacksonville for four touchdowns in the first half and cruised to a 38-14 blowout of the Jaguars Sunday at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.
“Obviously not one of our better showings,” Jacksonville Coach Gus Bradley said. “It felt like we came out here and in all three phases we didn’t have rhythm on offense. We are built to stop the run. Eight man front defense. They did a good job running the ball. Give credit to them, very well coached, [they did] very well in their execution offensively, defensively, special teams, and we could just never get in the rhythm offensively.”
Jacksonville (0-2) QB Bortles was 31 of 50 passes for 329 yards and threw TD passes of 4 and 15 yards to tight end Marcedes Lewis and running back Corey Grant in the final quarter to avert a shutout.
Tight end Julius Thomas caught four passes for 71 yards with a long reception of 24 yards. The Jaguars produced 388 yards and 20 first downs.
“Time of possession was a big factor for us going into the game,” noted Bradley. “It felt like that was going to be key, obviously taking care of the ball, and we didn’t do those two things along with stopping the run.”
San Diego (1-1) QB Philip Rivers tied his career high with four touchdown passes. Rivers was 17 of 24 for 220-yards and no picks. Running back Melvin Gordon recorded his first career 100-yard game, rushing for102 yards on 24 attempts.
“We finished, that was the big thing,” Chargers Coach Mike McCoy said. “We understood the situation we put ourselves in, but we had to move on.”
San Diego outside linebacker Melvin Ingram sacked Bortles twice and forced a fumble. Bortles committed three turnovers. The Chargers outrushed the Jaguars 150-69. The hosts possessed the ball for over 30 minutes. The Jaguars were penalized 13 times for 93 yards.
“Pretty embarrassing,” Bortles said. “The majority of the locker room is sick and tired of this feeling. It’s up to us to do something about it.”
Bradley agreed.
“I think you have to put that on me,” Bradley said. “When the team comes up and they don’t have the rhythm that they need to be offensively and defensively, as a head coach too, I have to take a lot of responsibility in that.”
Jaguars offensive tackle Kelvin Beachum was taken to a San Diego hospital, where he was evaluated for a concussion. The Jaguars announced that all tests were negative, but Beachum was kept overnight on Sunday for observation.
The Jaguars return home Sunday to face the Baltimore Ravens at 1 p.m.
