BOLT ANALYSIS: WEEK 15 -- THE STAGE IS SET

Well, hope this special Friday edition of the ANALYSIS finds you well. The Bolts in the Powder Blues certainly made for a fun Thursday night game. Both teams playing last night needed to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. It was like Mad Max in Thunderdome...two men enter...one man leaves.  Well, the Chargers left, with their second demolition in a row of an inferior team. This post could really be a carbon copy of the last one. Offense balanced and effective...defense ferocious and tough....and the game out of hand by halftime.

First, the offense. The long throw to VJ on the first drive set the tone. We wanted it more and VJ just overpowered that guy. Man, it is good to have that guy back. More on him later. Philip was awesome...he got protection all night...and despite the absence of Gates and Floyd and the terribly ineffective Legedu, he hit nearly all his throws. The running game was bottled up most of the night..but enough good runs by Mathews, Tolbert, and Sproles to keep it real. Great clutch catches by Randy McMichael and Kelley Washington as well as Sproles. Just a good ol' fashioned butt kicking.

Defensively...again...pretty awesome. Obviously the game turned on the weird series of events with the penalty on the FG...the TD that wasn't...and then the huge play by Siler on 4th and 6 inches. Just awesome. This guy is money on those tight plays. What a deflating situation for the 49ers...who had actually been winning the field position battle at that point. But, that was it. We crushed their heart on that play. 3 points on the board..then 7 points...then nothing. Wow. After that, the D just pinned back their ears and came flying at the QB. The 49ers could do nothing until garbage time at the end. Once again the D kept an opponent to under 200 yards! That is amazing. Garay is becoming big time...what a find. Even Castillo was noticeable. They got production from all over the place. Rock solid.

Must mention that we did have some luck. Which all good teams do and this team has not had much of this year. A TD on a Special Teams runback called back via a penalty. A couple of other plays called back. Challenges overturned. Brutal for SF. If I must come up with a criticism of the Chargers, it is the strange problems we always have with clock management. Two delay of game penalties...two timeouts used in bad situations. What the hell is up with this? We always have problems that I don't see other teams having with this. Other than that, a nearly perfect game.

On to VJ. Well, anyone who watched last night knows that this guy is elite. Huge matchup edge with anyone in the League. What a shame that his arrogance and off-field mistakes put him in doubt. And what a shame that AJ is so stony about everything. Who knows? Is the relationship reparable? Doubt it. But this guy could be the best in the League. What you don't see in the boxscore is how he blocks, how he takes two guys out with him every time he runs a route, how he changes the defense and opens up the middle of the field for other players. The guy is a menace, enjoy him while it lasts.

What is next? The stage is set. We are not in control of our fate. We need KC to drop one and we need to win the last two. We would also need the Jets to lose at least 2 and then win a tiebreaker (not likely). As the ANALYSIS reported a month ago...we must look to the West. We need KC to lose baby. Go Rams. I always loved the Rams. It is maddening to think that this team....outscoring its foes 65-7 the last two games, cannot control anything. However, it is our own fault and we just need to keep playing hard. Read a report today that Gates may be out until the playoffs if they make it. Wow. That is rough. But with games scheduled with the Bengals and Broncos..we have no excuses.  None. Gotta get some help now....just a little help.