The Los Angeles Chargers can finally breathe.

After blowing a 27-6 lead with 21 unanswered points, the Chargers eventually staved off the Cincinnati Bengals with a key 34-27 win on Week 11 of Sunday Night Football.

Los Angeles dominated the first half en route to a 24-6 cushion at halftime, which extended to 27-6 in the early minutes of the third quarter.

But Cincinnati woke up from that point on and scored 21 unanswered to stun the SoFi Stadium crowd. However, Bengals kicker Evan McPherson blew two opportunities to give Cincinnati the lead, eventually resulting in J.K. Dobbins’ game-winning run. Justin Herbert also threw multiple dimes to move the chains.

The result moved Los Angeles to 7-3 to maintain its spot near the top of the tight AFC while Cincinnati disappointingly fell to 4-7, where there is almost no more room for error the rest of the way.

Let’s analyze the game further with three takeaways:

Kickers are important

Of course it’s impossible to tell how the game would’ve ended if McPherson made his field goals late on, but it further amplified the importance of kickers.

McPherson’s two late misses failed to give Cincinnati the lead to capitalize on the hard work the offense and defense did to knot the game at 27 all. He did so on back-to-back drives too, missing from 48 and 51 yards out.

He made two first-half field goals, with a long of 27. However, he’ll obviously be known for his misses that may have finally derailed Cincinnati’s underwhelming season.

Chargers avoid embarassment

Los Angeles may have had flashbacks to the 2023 playoffs (2022 season) when it traveled to face the Jacksonville Jaguars in the playoffs.

The Chargers in that game led 27-0 and looked well on their way to advance to the divisional round under Brandon Staley, but infamously allowed a comeback that saw Jacksonville win 31-30.

Los Angeles didn’t return to the playoffs last season with Staley still at the helm, but Jim Harbaugh has helped lead a resurgence in just his first season with the franchise. He didn’t allow a repeat of that performance, though they did need some luck this time.

Are the Chargers contenders?

There’s still plenty of football to be played, but the Chargers are in a very propitious spot after 10 games in the books. At 7-3, they are currently in the No. 5 seed if the playoffs began today, which would set up a wild-card matchup against the Houston Texans.

Los Angeles still has its flaws — defensive injury inconsistencies and a lack of star weapons for Herbert — but it might just be decent enough to be a sleeper team in the conference. The 7-4 Baltimore Ravens and 6-5 Denver Broncos are the two teams behind them, with every other AFC team currently below .500.

Michael Ozanian, Senior Sports Reporter for CNBC, delves into the factors that make the Los Angeles Rams significantly more valuable than their cross-town rivals, the Los Angeles Chargers.

This weekend, 85 musicians from San Diego’s Youth Symphony and neighboring Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana packed the Epstein Family Amphitheater at the University of California, San Diego, for a historic performance.

“No matter where you’re from, music can be something that unites,” said Lilian Franqui one of the musicians breaking down barriers.

When she was 7 years old, Franqui picked up a violin at an instrument “petting zoo.” 

Now, more than a decade later, she’s planning to make a career in it. 

“When you’re playing, there’s no talk about borders. There’s no talk about ‘them versus us’ that I see a lot of, especially in the news,” Franqui said. “I think that this music really allows us to be, you know, closer together.”

The performance was part of an effort to bridge communities through creativity and innovation during this year’s “World Design Capital” designation.

“You may not understand each other. Speak the same language, but you know, the same notes you can play the same,” Sophia Getman, a Sinfónica Juvenil de Tijuana member, said. 

But it’s not always in tune – or easy.

Some performers from Tijuana waited at least three hours to cross the border to rehearsal.

“It’s been a learning lesson for many of the students in the San Diego Youth Symphony certainly, because, for a lot of them, you can easily take for granted driving to rehearsal, coming to rehearsal, and making music, and maybe it’s a 20-minute car ride or a 30-minute car ride, but for some of the musicians that have joined us, it can, it can be an all-day ordeal,” said Sameer Patel, conductor and artistic director of the San Diego Youth Symphony.

This unique collaboration has culminated in a special composition called “Ilimitados”, meaning limitless.

“Limitless is symbolic of hope, of opportunities,” Anthony Kim, concertmaster for the San Diego Youth Symphony. “In regard to the border region, I hope this helps instigate peace and unity.”

Patel hopes it hits the right notes and resonates far beyond this stage. 

“Music is about the greatest expression of our common humanity, and I think when we have a piece of music like this and opportunities to come together that showcases our common humanity, that you know, you can see that that there’s little that actually separates us,” Patel said. 

Re “San Diego has put off $1 billion in routine building maintenance, audit says” (Nov. 9):Infrastructure isn’t sexy and term limits reward sexy. Elected officials looking for the next rung up the ladder don’t generate headlines and contributions by being responsible managers.

I had a friend who’d often ask how I thought Mayor Jerry Sanders, a mutual friend, was doing. I’d note he was being responsible but not sexy, which was exactly what San Diego needed during tough fiscal times. “Repairing miles of ancient water and sewer lines and covering them with smooth asphalt is very important, but doesn’t get TV cameras out.” Patching roofs and fixing air conditioning won’t get cameras either.

Prior to term limits, a district could keep its City Council member, who had the time to concentrate on the non-sexy.

— Kirk Mather, Point Loma