INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana—The San Diego Chargers shocked the Super Bowl champion Indianapolis Colts 28-24 on Sunday, advancing to the AFC title game and a meeting with the unbeaten New England Patriots.
The Chargers will travel to Foxborough next Sunday to face Tom Brady and the Patriots, who secured their place in the championship game with a 31-20 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Saturday.
After a stumbling 1-3 start to the season the Chargers had appeared to be heading for a disappointing campaign but have now strung together eight consecutive victories, including back-to-back playoff wins, to move to the brink of their first Super Bowl appearance since 1995.
Quarterback Philip Rivers completed 14 of 19 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns to bring the Colts' Super Bowl defence to a stunning end.
With the Colts set to move into a new stadium next season the divisional playoff was the last game to be played at the RCA Dome and a raucous capacity crowd arrived early ready to party and confident of a winning send-off.
The Chargers had defeated an injury-riddled Colts 23-21 in a regular-season meeting when quarterback Peyton Manning had one of the worst games of his career, tossing a franchise record six interceptions.
However, the well-rested Colts were back close to full strength on Sunday and Manning was back on target, completing his first 14 passes to open the game and tossing three touchdowns.
The Colts drew first blood, Manning engineering a 76-yard drive capped off by a 25-yard touchdown strike to Dallas Clark on their opening possession.
With Indianapolis marching towards another score, receiver Marvin Harrison fumbled on the San Diego 22 and Chargers capitalised on the turnover with Rivers lofting a 14-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Jackson midway through the second quarter to tie the game at 7-7.
An Adam Vinatieri 47-yard field goal allowed the Colts to take a 10-7 lead into the intermission but San Diego took the second-half kickoff and marched 83 yards, Rivers finding Chris Chambers with a 30-yard pass to give the Chargers their first lead of the game.
The Colts answered with Manning connecting with Reggie Wayne for a nine-yard touchdown to retake the lead 17-14 but again the Chargers hit back, Rivers sending a flare pass to Darren Sproles who raced 56 yards down the sideline to make the score 21-17.
With a jittery crowd on its feet, Manning hit Anthony Gonzalez with a short pass early in the final quarter and the wide receiver galloped 55 yards for the touchdown to put the host up 24-21.
The Chargers refused to quit, backup quarterback Billy Volek diving over from the one to cap a 78-yard drive and put San Diego in front.
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