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San Diego, California - The San Diego Chargers will take on the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday, January 13, the teams’ fourth meeting in the last five years, but this time the stakes will be much higher as they meet in the Divisional Round of the 2007 AFC Playoffs and the Chargers are out to dethrone the defending Super Bowl Champions.

 

The Chargers and Colts are quite familiar with one another and they have a memorable history, including a meeting in the 1995 AFC Wild Card Playoffs.

 

In Week 10 of this season on NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the Chargers hosted the Colts and intercepted Peyton Manning a record six times, including a career-high three by Antonio Cromartie, and Darren Sproles electrified the home crowd by returning a kickoff (89 yards) and a punt (45 yards) for touchdowns as the Chargers knocked off the Colts, 23-21. The prior two games were just as entertaining. In 2004, the Chargers took an eight-game win streak to Indianapolis, only to see it come to a halt when the Colts rallied from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Bolts, 34-31 in overtime. But less than a year later in ’05, the Bolts rode a two-sack and three-tackle-for-loss effort from linebacker Shawne Merriman and shocked the Colts, 26-17, to end Indianapolis’ perfect 13-0 start to the season.

 

Since 1990, the Chargers and Colts have played 11 times and San Diego is 7-4 in those games. The Chargers also lead the all-time series, 13-9. Manning’s career passer rating against the Chargers (71.3 in five games) is the lowest against any of the Colts’ opponents that he’s played more than once.

 

The Chargers are one of the NFL’s hottest teams. They’ve won seven straight and 11 of their last 13, including their first playoff victory since January 1995. The Chargers’ seven-game win streak is the NFL’s second longest behind undefeated New England. In finishing the regular season 11-5, the Chargers had their second straight season with 11-or-more wins and their ninth in team history. The Chargers’ 46 wins in the last four years are the third most in the NFL behind only New England (52) and the Colts (51).

 

Returning to the playoffs for an NFL-best eighth time in nine years and aiming to match the post-season success that resulted in the Super Bowl XLI title, the Indianapolis Colts.

 

This year, Indianapolis has produced its sixth consecutive 10+-victory season, tying the third-longest streak in NFL history (16, San Francisco, 1983-98; 7, Dallas, 1975-81; 6, Dallas, 1968-73; 6, Miami 1970-75; 6, LA Rams, 1973-78; 6, Dallas, 1991-96; 6, Colts, 2002-07). Indianapolis has become the only NFL team with five consecutive 12+- victory seasons. The Colts were tied with Dallas (1992-95) as the only teams to do it four consecutive seasons. Indianapolis won 13 games for third time in franchise history (1968, 1999), one victory shy of the club seasonal-record (14, 2005).

 

Owners of the NFL's best regular-season record (102-42) since the start of the 1999 season, while being the only team to earn eight playoff appearances in the last nine seasons, Indianapolis enters this game as victors in 47 of its last 57 regular-season games. Indianapolis' winning ways include a 28-8 record in AFC South play, while the club has owned or shared the lead in 95 of 102 weeks of the division's existence, including the last 60 consecutive weeks. The Colts have won the past five AFC South championships, the best divisional-title streak in club history.

Listen to the San Diego Chargers game live on KXO Radio AM1230