Alan Abrahamson • E-mail

SAN DIEGO - For all the surfers and skateboarders in abundance at the beach, this is still very much a military town, and the big screen on the east end of Qualcomm Stadium comes alive with video vignettes of American sailors and Marines stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere who, far away from home, are rooting on their beloved San Diego Chargers.

In local parlance: their beloved San Diego Super Chargers.

"Stay blue!" one of the stirring speeches from overseas came booming out here Sunday, prelude to the production from under a military camouflage jacket of a powder-blue LaDainian Tomlinson jersey and this: "See you in January!"

Possibly, come January and the NFL playoffs, the Chargers will look back on Sunday's 26-24 loss to Carolina as one of those character builders — one of those what-are-we-made-of losses that jump-starts a team's championship campaign, the Panthers scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass as time ran out to claim a game the Chargers seemed to have in the bag.

Or maybe Sunday's loss merely serves to underscore the import of a raft of injuries in a San Diego team that many have picked as a legitimate Super Bowl contender: Tight end Antonio Gates, bothered for nearly a year now by a bum toe, conceded afterward that his toe is still not right and that he needs to assess whether he can (perhaps more appropriately, should) play, saying, "… It's come down to me making the decision on whether I'm beneficial to the team or not."

Asked if there's doubt in his mind, he said, "Yes, there is."

Standout linebacker Shawne Merriman, like Gates either a fool or braveheart for playing through injury and pain (in Merriman's case torn knee ligaments), said he won't know until later how his knee truly is, but declared it late Sunday "sore," nothing more.

All-world running back LaDainian Tomlinson, meanwhile, said he jammed a toe near the end of the game. How badly remains unclear, but L.T. said, "People don't need to freak out."

No excuses
Maybe not about L.T.'s toe. The bigger freak-out: Is San Diego anywhere near as good as the Chargers ought to be, figured to be?

Carolina, after all, is nobody's pre-season Super Bowl pick. Moreover, the Panthers played with three new starters on the offensive line and without receiver Steve Smith, arguably their best player, who was suspended for two games for punching cornerback Ken Lucas in training camp.

Look, even the Panthers' PR department didn't expect to come out to the West Coast and dominate. "Carolina's season starts with a most difficult assignment," the team's pre-game notes package said, which is canny PR-speak for, "Let's temper expectations."

It's still early. One game doesn't make a season, it's a marathon not a sprint. All of that, and yet Gates pinpointed it exactly when, sweating and disconsolate in the locker room afterward, he said, "We really don't have any excuses about why we didn't win this game."

No, they don't.

The San Diego defense allowed the Panthers to go 68 yards in the game's final 2:27.

More or less, this is the same San Diego defense that during the 2007 regular season, allowed only 10 touchdowns in eight games, tied with Pittsburgh for fewest in the league.

‘An unbelievable play’
As the scoreboard clock ticked down to zero Sunday, on a fourth-and-1 play from the Charger 14, Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme found tight end Dante Rosario in the shadows of the back of the west end zone.

Slide show   The Week in Sports Pictures Madness of March takes hold, fists come out on the ice, and more. more photos

"I was standing there and it was like slow motion," Delhomme said later. "I was looking, looking, looking. Dante and I caught eyes and he was under the goal post. He made an unbelievable play."

The roaring Qualcomm crowd, anticipating a 1-0 start on the road to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa, fell dead silent.

Merriman said, "It is up to us to play 60 minutes of football. We gave up some plays early, played a great second half in my opinion — but we have to make the plays when they count."

At the half, neither team looking sharp, Carolina led, 9-7. It wasn't until the third quarter that the Chargers put together the game's first sustained drive by either team, 12 plays for 51 yards, Nate Kaeding punching through a 27-yard field goal that put San Diego back up, 10-9.

On the next Charger possession, Gates fumbled, the ball picked up and run in for an apparent Carolina score by left corner Chris Gamble. Replays appeared from some angles to show Gates' knee down. But the play stood. 16-10, Carolina.

The play marked Gates' first fumble in 339 touches, and he was supremely hard on himself about it afterward, calling the play a "huge part of the game," adding, "I apologize to my teammates."

‘It serves a purpose’
With about 10 minutes to go, a 49-yard field goal by Carolina's John Kasay made it 19-10.

San Diego came right back, quarterback Philip Rivers for 25 yard to Vincent Jackson, for 17 to Jackson again, then for 24 to Gates and a touchdown. 19-17, Carolina, 6:45 to go.

Delhomme, on third-and-5 from the Panthers' 32, completed a pass to D.J. Hackett for an apparent first down. But San Diego cornerback Antoine Cason forced a fumble, the Chargers recovering on the Carolina 28 with 4:56 to play.

Seven plays later, Rivers found Jackson alone on the right side for the go-ahead touchdown. 24-19.

The ensuing kickoff left Carolina on the San Diego 32. Not even two and a half minutes to go.

"We needed some guys to step up, and we did," Carolina coach John Fox said afterward in exultation.

Give the Chargers this much: Tomlinson, as always, is a class act. After the game, he posed for photos with a group of kids on the field who had been waiting for him.

"It serves a purpose," a loss like this, Tomlinson said, "in really understanding how hard it's going to be for us — not taking anything for granted."

"Nobody likes to start the season this way," echoed Chargers defensive lineman Luis Castillo. "Like I said, it's one of 16. We've got a long way to go. Our goal was never to come out here and win 16 of them during the regular season.

"The most important thing is for us to stay together. Because the team that stays together, the team that's the most complete team at the end of this is the team that's going to be victorious at the end."

NFL game stories Quick look at Week 4 games STEELERS 23, RAVENS 20, OT: Baltimore loses first game of season REDSKINS 26, COWBOYS 24: Dallas can't contain Portis in 1st loss BEARS 24, EAGLES 20: Goal-line stand boosts Chicago JETS 56, CARDINALS 35: Favre throws career-high 6 TDs BUCS 30, PACKERS 21: Ryan's 3 FGs lift Tampa CHARGERS 28, RAIDERS 18: San Diego tops rival 10th straight time BILLS 31, RAMS 14: Buffalo 4-0 for first time since 1992 CHIEFS 33, BRONCOS 19: Johnson rushes for 198 yards for K.C. BROWNS 20, BENGALS 12: Anderson throws TD TITANS 30, VIKINGS 17: Tennessee 4-0 for first time ever PANTHERS 24, FALCONS 9: Smith honors Lucas after TD JAGUARS 30, TEXANS 27, OT: Scobey kicks game winner SAINTS 31, 49ERS 17: McAlister scores first TD of year

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