The Chargers played their first regular season home game at StubHub Center in Carson, California on Sunday and they showed that a couple of things stuck with them in their move up the coast from San Diego.
One was the team’s penchant for losing games in painful fashion as they went from up 17-10 to 19-17 losers when Younghoe Koo missed a field goal with seconds to play in the game. The other was that the crowd was full of people rooting for the Chargers’ opponent.
When Koo’s kick missed, Dolphins fans made a lot of noise and a cannon meant to signal Chargers scores even went off to further sell the notion of a neutral site game rather than a Chargers home game. Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers said it’s up to the team to win games if they want to change that.
“I thought there was great energy in the stadium,” Rivers said, via ESPN.com. “Obviously the loudest roar came at the end after the missed field goal. That’s where you really got to see how many Dolphins fans there were. I heard the roar before I saw the official’s signal. I wasn’t sure which roar it was. ... I think it’s always been a little bit of something you battle. We battled it down in San Diego -- I think just obviously the weather, the climate lends to that. If I was somewhere else and was a fan picking a road game to go to, this would be a destination. We’ve always had to battle that a little bit more. I think that’s something [where] if we get going and put some wins together -- we’ve got to get one first -- then we’ll see more and more of our fans.”
The Chargers will be home the next two weeks so we’ll see if they can find a way to boost the home field advantage or if their new home will remain a place where there’s little penalty to being the visitor.