DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Lions suffered their usual post-Thanksgiving letdown.
Doug Flutie threw touchdown passes of 17 and 73 yards to LaDainian Tomlinson in the first half as the San Diego Chargers held on for a 14-7 victory over the Lions.
Flutie completed 17-of-25 passes for 244 yards and Tomlinson finished with 236 yards of total offense. He caught nine passes for a career-high 148 yards and rushed for 88 yards on 25 carries. Tomlinson had not had a TD reception this season.
"This day and age at the running back position you have to be able to catch the football and run," Tomlinson said. "I showed today that I can catch the football and make the run after."
"I thought what they did today was play a lot of zone coverages," Flutie added. "Sometimes, you just got to play that conservative style. We were a little more careful with the ball."
The loss snapped a three-game home winning streak for Detroit (4-9), which is just 1-7 since 1995 on the week following Thanksgiving.
"What we're going through is a great deal of inconsistency from game to game, half to half, as a team and as individuals," Detroit coach Steve Mariucci said. "That's not an excuse, that's an observation."
The Lions played inspired football in a 22-14 victory over Green Bay on Thanksgiving but could get little going against the Chargers (3-10) until Joey Harrington tossed a five-yard TD pass to Casey Fitzsimmons midway through the fourth quarter. Detroit reached the Chargers 31 in the final minute before turning the ball over on downs.
Harrington completed 26-of-46 passes for 208 yards with no interceptions. The Lions' hopes ended when his pass on 4th-and-10 fell incomplete in the end zone with three seconds remaining. Detroit did not cross midfield until the fourth quarter.
"You just can't go out and expect to slop your way to a win," Harrington said. "Every team in this league has talent. I don't care if you're 2-10 or 4-8 or 1-11. If you don't show up to play, you are going to get beat."
The Chargers drove 70 yards on nine plays on their second possession to take the lead. Tomlinson ripped off a 13-yard gain to give San Fiego a first down at the Lions 17, setting up his touchdown on the next play.
San Diego was turned back when Terrence Holt intercepted Flutie at the Lions 10, but Flutie and Tomlinson hooked again for 73 yards on the final play before the two-minute warning to make it 14-0.
"We weren't real artistic offensively, but we did enough to create some points and I thought our defense played very, very well for us, particularly against the run," Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "What we did was make enough plays to win a game."
The contest featured a matchup of brothers on the opposing coaching staffs as Schottenheimer faced his brother, Kurt, who is the Lions' defensive coordinator.
