"It's pretty sickening," quarterback Philip Rivers said, per the team's official site.
"It's been a tough stretch to say the least," Rivers added. "You at least kind of wonder ... it's just crazy how they've all been similar. We had a chance in all of them. The Oakland one was a little out of hand, still, even that one we made it interesting.
"We just don't have the answers right now. It's not surrendering and saying we're not good enough. I'm not saying we're surrendering, but we are what we are, and right now, that's 2-7 on a five-game skid."
The Chargers' 16-7 lead was cut to two just minutes into the fourth quarter, mainly because of two self-inflicted penalties. The first stemmed from a flag on Stevie Johnson for delay of game after the receiver spiked the ball following a pass. D.J. Fluker drew the second penalty for being an illegal man downfield -- a play which otherwise would have been six on the board for San Diego (Rivers found Gates in the end zone).
"Obviously critical mistakes," head coach Mike McCoy said. "We can't have two penalties take points off the board. We would have gone up a score and instead we give them an opportunity to go down and go ahead. Critical mistakes."
"(The defense) did not make enough plays," McCoy said. "It comes down to that. That is what the game comes down to, making plays. We gave (the Bears) too many opportunities."
Aside from the penalties, Johnson believes it's the team's lack of discipline that ultimately led to the fourth-quarter meltdown.
"We just have to be better," Johnson said. "We just have to be more disciplined, I guess. And we have to be able to fight through it and overcome. We're learning. It's a learning process right now and we'll get better. It's about progressions."
