The San Diego Chargers certainly received that kind of quality performance from LaDainian Tomlinson, who torched the Broncos' defense for 96 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

And when the Chargers' Pro Bowler went down because of an abdominal strain in the second half, his replacement, Darren Sproles, added an additional 115 yards on 14 carries with one touchdown.

The result was a Chargers running game, which had averaged 95.8 yards a game, that looked like the invincible Vince Lombardi Green Bay Packers of the early 1960s.

For the game, San Diego picked up a season-high 289 yards on the ground to go along with quarterback Philip Rivers going 15-for-20 for 207 yards and two touchdowns. Rivers had a 141.0 quarterback rating against Denver's reeling defense.

"Running or passing, they were making big play after big play," Denver cornerback Dre Bly said. "Giving up 52 points, that hurts. But this is a young team; we learned from this and now is the time will start to prepare for next season."

For his part, Broncos' coach Mike Shanahan said his team suffered from a lack of fundamentals.

Though he didn't accentuate any aspect of basic Football, he did believe that his team was ready to play.

The result represented a wide gap between what he told the media and the reality on the field.

The Broncos' defense was as porous as that children's fable about holding back the water in a dike. The Chargers scored the first four times they had the ball, and by intermission, the Broncos were down 24-6.

"I thought everyone felt frustration," Shanahan said. "I didn't do a good enough job to get this team ready to play."

In the end, the Chargers dominated and now power into the postseason. Their emotion, intensity and accomplishment of Sunday night did not go unnoticed.

"They are playing well in December and they were the better team," wide receiver Brandon Marshall said. "We had to play all three phases of the game, and we did not get it done."