Almost out of it

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Minutes earlier, Shawn Springs had made the kind of play -- an interception of a deflected pass deep in San Diego territory with the game tied -- he was sure would result in a Washington Redskins victory that would jump-start a late-season playoff drive and erase the bitter memories of late losses to Tampa Bay and Oakland.

But when his futile chase of the Chargers' LaDainian Tomlinson ended yesterday, all of those thoughts were out of Springs' mind. He spiked his helmet into the turf and quickly walked off the field following a third straight come-from-ahead defeat, this one 23-17 to San Diego after Tomlinson's 41-yard touchdown run 34 seconds into overtime.

"This is just bad. ... It should have never come to this," Springs said in a silent Redskins locker room. "We keep finding ways to mess things up."

The third chapter in the Redskins' second-half collapse was particularly galling. They led 17-7 with just more than 18 minutes left, the defense had limited Tomlinson to 66 yards through three quarters and the offense was doing just enough.

San Diego, though, did what Tampa Bay and Oakland had done the previous two weeks -- controlled the fourth quarter to reduce the Redskins' playoff chances. But it took some work and luck.

Springs' interception on a pass deflected by Marcus Washington gave the Redskins possession at the Chargers 31-yard line with 1:04 left. But a sequence that included a critical holding penalty on Casey Rabach moved the Redskins back, and John Hall's 52-yard field goal attempt with 30 seconds left was wide right.

San Diego (7-4) won the coin toss in overtime, and on the first play Drew Brees threw 24 yards to tight end Antonio Gates, who became open when Sean Taylor and LaVar Arrington bit on a play fake. Tomlinson then ran through the line and Ryan Clark's attempted tackle to continue the Redskins' misery and make former Washington and current San Diego coach Marty Schottenheimer a winner in his return to FedEx Field.

"It [stinks] that we have to give the same speech every week, but it's our fault," Clark said. "If you want to be the so-called strength of the team, you have to show it. You can't just play well for two quarters."

The Redskins (5-6), who have lost 10 consecutive games to AFC opponents, likely need to win their five remaining games to make the postseason for the first time since 1999. They trail Dallas (7-4) and the New York Giants (7-4) by two games in the NFC East.

"Focus on five games?" Springs asked. "[Heck], we can't even win one right now. ... I guess we have to realize what happened the last three weeks has become a trend. Not to discredit other teams, but we've played well enough to beat all of them. We can't do anything but blame ourselves."