It was truly a tale of two halves for the Chargers on Sunday afternoon.

The Chargers built a 17-13 lead in the first half and would get the opening kickoff of the second half. The only thing is that no one ordered the perpetrator to leave the locker room.

The Chargers made a three-pointer on their first drive and then turned the ball over four times in the final 30 minutes of regulation. Justin Herbert threw his first interception in 357 pass attempts late in the third quarter. After back-to-back drives that featured downs, the offense lost a fumble on the final drive of the game, which was truly a fitting end to a game in which the Chargers dominated in all three phases of the game.

The combination of quarterback Baker Mayfield, wide receiver Mike Evans and running back Buck Irving was simply too much for the Chargers’ defense, which allowed a season-high 40 points, easily their worst performance of the season.

This trio combined for 276 yards of offense, with both Evans and Irving amassing over 100 yards individually. In total, Tampa Bay ran for 222 yards and Mayfield threw for 288 yards with four touchdowns and one interception. At the end of the regular season, they had accumulated 506 yards of offense.

As for the Chargers, they barely managed over 200 yards of total offense. Herbert threw for 195 yards to go with two scores and a pick. The ground game was non-existent with 32 yards on 11 carries.

There really isn’t much more to say about this game. The Buccaneers were dominant. It wasn’t the Chargers. The loss likely ends with the Broncos having the league’s best defense and with their win, the Colts moved to 13 points, which also puts them ahead of LA and into the AFC’s sixth seed in the playoffs.

If anything, this is a burn the tape game. There is nothing to learn. Too many players played poorly and dissimilarly. There was no fight in the second half and I hope this is the kind of humbling experience that turns things around quickly.

The Chargers will be back home after a quick turnaround to face the Broncos on Thursday, a game that could further solidify the AFC playoff race.

A full quarterly recap of today’s game can be found below.

First quarter

The Buccaneers won the throw and elected to receive. The Chargers defense was up first.

Baker Mayfield quickly led Tampa Bay’s offense down the field with a crisp passing attack, with rookie Jalen McMillan throwing in a 19-yard pass early and then capping the entire drive with a 26-yard score. Bucs offensive coordinator Liam Coen devised a slot wheel for McMillan that benefited from two different pick routes to keep him wide open for the touchdown.

With more than 11:14 minutes remaining in the opening period, the Bucs had an early lead of 7-0.

Herbert and the Chargers offense got going with consecutive passes to Ladd McConkey to start the drive. After Quentin Johnston got in on the action with his first catch, running back Gus Edwards put together some tough runs to get the Bolts close to the red zone. On third-and-10 from the Bucs’ 22-yard line, Tampa Bay was called upon to hold tight end Stone Smartt defensively, giving LA a first down at the 12-yard line.

On second-and-5 from seven, Herbert was flushed out of the pocket, scrambled to his right and fired a rocket to a crossing McConkey for a touchdown. The score tied the game at 7-7 with 6:18 minutes left.

Before the first quarter ended, Mayfield had the Bucs inside the Chargers’ 10-yard line after another long drive fueled by rookie wideout Jalen McMillan and veteran Mike Evans.

Second quarter

Mayfield handed off to running back Bucky Irving in the second, but cornerback Kristian Fulton tripped him in the backfield, forcing a third-and-goal from four. Mayfield scrambled out of the pocket and attempted to zip down the left sideline, but was tripped by two Chargers at the three-point line. The Bucs hit a short field goal and regained the lead 10-7.

The Chargers tied the score again with a 41-yard field goal by Cameron Dicker on the ensuing drive, again driven by McConkey, with some help from tight end Stone Smartt, who threw a beautiful 31-yard pass into the 11-yard line Bucs shot red zone. After the big play, Lavonte David was virtually untouched on a blitz and knocked Herbert to the ground for an 11-yard sack. Rashawn Slater was then called for an illegal formation penalty and the Chargers faced second-and-26. Ultimately, they gained some yardage back on a draw play on third down against Kimani Vidal before firing.

On the first play of the ensuing Buccaneers drive, Mayfield fired a pass over the middle to Evans, but rookie cornerback Tarheeb Still undercut the pass for his team-leading fourth interception. A few plays later, Johnston caught a short curl route, made two defenders miss and rolled over another on the way to the end zone. It was Johnston’s eighth goal of the year, giving the Chargers their first lead at 17-10.

The Bucs only had the ball for three plays before tragedy struck again.

On third-and-short, the Bucs handed the ball off to the up-back in the I formation, but Joey Bosa picked the ball off and it was recovered by safety Elijah Molden. On the other hand, the Chargers couldn’t get close enough to score points before JK Scott sank the ball.

The Bucs converted a fourth-and-long to extend what appeared to be a dead drive in their own territory. The Chargers put rookie Cam Hart on Evans, who beat him on an in-cutting route to move the chains.

A few plays later, Mayfield escaped a shrinking pocket and managed to rack up a huge chunk of yards to get the Bucs deep into Chargers territory. Luckily, the defense stepped up in its usual fashion to limit the Bucs to another field goal, narrowing the lead to 17-13.

The Chargers tried to break up a long play in the final moments of the half, but Herbert was sacked in the second period and Jim Harbaugh decided to bring him into halftime.

Third quarter

Herbert and the offense couldn’t get anything going on their opening drive, as it was the first three-pointer in the game. Herbert opened Smartt on a corner route, but he threw it too high for his jumping tight end.

Mayfield and Evans scored gold on their first drive of the second half. Mayfield escaped a dark pocket and directed his tall wideout down the field. He launched a pass on the run that Evans caught just before it bounced off a shoulder tackle by Tarheeb Still and stormed down the sideline for a 57-yard touchdown.

Once again, the Chargers offense couldn’t muster much and stumbled again. In coverage, Ja’Sir Taylor hit returner Trey Palmer early, knocking the ball out of play.

With excellent starting position, Mayfield turned and handed off to running back Bucky Irving, who picked off the right side for a 54-yard gain. Four plays later, Tampa Bay kicked another field goal to go up by six.

Herbert’s streak of pass attempts without an interception ended at 357 pass attempts on the following drive. On the second play, Herbert threw a pass to Johnston, who was running down the field, but Johnston stumbled and the ball flew into the arms of cornerback Jamel Dean.

The Bucs’ offense then marched back down the field and Baker Mayfield found Mike Evans for a 35-yard score, extending the lead to 30-17.

Fourth quarter

The Buccaneers only extended their lead with a scripted 11-yard pass to Rachaad White. White put the Bucs ahead 37-17, already having an insurmountable lead over the Chargers.

Despite all the drives in the second half, Herbert and the offense just couldn’t get anything going. With just over six minutes left in regulation, the Chargers turned it over on downs for the second straight game.

From there, the Bucs added another field goal and led 40-17. With the game out of control, Justin Herbert was picked off and Taylor Heinicke was sent in. His time only lasted one play as Stone Smartt was pulled and the Bucs defense recovered.

The Chargers would fall to 8-6 while the Broncos (9-5) would head to SoFi Stadium for Thursday Night Football.