Philip Rivers threw for 178 yards and one touchdown, passing Hall of Famer Dan Fouts to become San Diego's career passing leader, and the Chargers held off the Denver Broncos 21-13 on Thursday night (Friday AEDT).
The victory may have saved embattled coach Mike McCoy's job. The Chargers (2-4) were coming off a mistake-filled loss at Oakland, and earlier in the season lost three games in which they led at the two-minute warning. There has been increasing fan discontent with the conservative McCoy, and the Chargers are trying to convince voters to approve a $US1.1 billion ($A1.5 billion) public handout for a new downtown stadium in the form of an increase in the hotel occupancy tax.
The defending Super Bowl champion Broncos were coached by special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis after Gary Kubiak was ordered by doctors to sit this one out because of a migraine condition that mimics strokes.
The five-time defending AFC West champion Broncos (4-2) were mostly sluggish behind Trevor Siemian, who was back at quarterback after rookie Paxton Lynch struggled in a loss to Atlanta. They lost their second straight game and had their NFL-record 15 straight divisional road victories snapped.
The Chargers snapped their streak of 10 straight divisional losses dating to 2014.
Rivers, in his 13th season with the Chargers and 11th as starter, has 43,094 career yards passing. Fouts threw for 43,040 yards in 15 seasons with the Bolts.
