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San Diego, California - Fresh off a hard-fought 28-24 win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Indianapolis Colts in the last NFL game ever played in the RCA Dome, the San Diego Chargers, winners of eight in a row, will travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts to take on the three-time World Champion and undefeated New England Patriots in the 2007 AFC Championship Game.

 

The Chargers and Patriots have a long and storied history in both the regular season and the postseason. It goes back to 1963 when the Chargers defeated the Boston Patriots, 51-10, in the 1963 AFL Championship Game. Decades later it continued, with the Chargers defeating the Pats in 2002 and again in 2005 during the regular season the year after New England won the Super Bowl. The latter, a 41-17 win in Foxboro in 2005, ended New England’s NFL-record 21-game home winning streak. The most recent memorable game in the series however is the Patriots’ 24- 21 win in the 2006 Divisional Playoffs that knocked the top seeded Chargers from the playoffs after the Bolts had won a team-record 14 games during the regular season.

 

This year, the Chargers finished the regular season 11-5 and defeated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Wild Card Playoffs and the Colts in the Divisional Round to reach Sunday’s AFC Championship Game. San Diego will play in the Championship Game for the first time since 1994. Coincidentally, 1994 was also the last time that the Bolts finished the regular season 11-5. That year, the Bolts defeated Miami in the Divisional Playoffs and they beat Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game before advancing to face the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX in Miami, Florida.

 

While the Patriots come in undefeated (17-0), the Chargers have won eight straight and 12 of their last 14. Their eight-game win streak is the NFL’s second longest behind New England’s (17) and their 46 wins in the last four years (reg. season) are the third most in the NFL behind only the Patriots (52) and the Colts (51).

 

The Patriots and Chargers will play for the 36^th time overall and for the third time in a little over a calendar year. In last season’s divisional playoffs on January 14, 2007, the Patriots claimed a 24-21 victory in San Diego to advance to the AFC Championship Game. The Patriots also defeated the Chargers, 38-14 in New England’s 2007 regular-season home opener on Sept. 16, 2007.

 

The series dates back to 1960, the inaugural season for each team, with the Patriots holding a 19-14-2 lead, including a 1-1 mark in the playoffs. In addition to last season’s divisional playoff game, the clubs also met in the 1963 American Football League Championship Game. In the last 35 years, the Patriots are 12-2 against San Diego, including regular-season and playoff games.

 

Listen live to the San Diego Chargers - New England Patriots AFC Championship game on KXO Radio AM1230 - El Centro, California