Yesterday’s AFC playoff game was hyped as LaDainian Tomlinson against Tom Brady. If it had worked out that way, Tomlinson’s San Diego Chargers would have won. Despite several mistakes by Brady, his New England Patriot teammates outplayed Tomlinson’s fellow Chargers, and the Patriots advanced to the AFC Championship Game with a 24–21 win.

Brady had a fumble and three interceptions while Tomlinson had 123 rushing yards, 64 receiving yards and two touchdowns. But Tomlinson’s stellar play wasn’t enough to overcome some crucial San Diego mistakes, and the Chargers’ NFL-best 14–2 record aside, those mistakes could cost Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer his job.

The most notable San Diego mistakes involved managing the clock late in the game. San Diego wasted two timeouts in the fourth quarter, once when Schottenheimer inexplicably challenged a play that was clearly ruled correctly on the field, and once when Rivers called a timeout with 3:46 left in the fourth quarter even though the clock was already stopped. Those are the kinds of mistakes that can get coaches fired, and reports out of San Diego last week indicated that Schottenheimer’s job was on the line yesterday. In his postgame press conference, Schottenheimer said he expects to be back as the Chargers’ coach.

Other mistakes (including Schottenheimer’s bizarre decision in the first half to go for it on a fourthand-11 from the 30-yard line instead of attempting a 48-yard field goal) will become the latest in the long list of playoff blunders by Schottenheimer’s teams. With 200 regular-season wins, Schottenheimer has won more games than any coach who has never been to the Super Bowl, and his reputation as a coach whose teams win in the regular season but not the playoffs is well-earned. Before yesterday’s loss, Schottenheimer’s most recent playoff game took place two years ago, when the heavily favored Chargers lost in overtime to the Jets. That day, Schottenheimer’s conservative play calling was widely criticized in San Diego and credited in New York with helping the Jets win. Overall, Schottenheimer is 5–13 in the playoffs.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has his teams at their best in the postseason. Belichick and his staff saved their best play call for the most opportune time yesterday: After a New England touchdown cut the deficit to 21–19 with less than five minutes remaining, they called for a two-point conversion on which Brady lined up in a shotgun formation but center Dan Koppen snapped the ball directly to running back Kevin Faulk, who ran straight up the middle for two points to tie the game.

But if Belichick added to his postseason legend yesterday, Brady did not. Brady’s turnovers weren’t his only mistakes; he missed wideopen receivers all day, including a badly thrown ball to tight end Ben Watson that wasted an opportunity for what should have been a New England touchdown. He did, however, play well enough down the stretch that his final numbers — 27-of-51 for 280 yards — don’t indicate how much he struggled.

Tomlinson showed all day why he’s the league’s most valuable player, and when he scored his second touchdown midway through the fourth quarter, the Chargers seemed well on their way to victory with a 21–13 lead. But after that the Chargers’ defense broke down, and when Marlon McCree intercepted Brady only to fumble the ball right back to the Patriots with six minutes remaining, it was hard not to sense that the Patriots were going to find a way to win. Brady hit Reche Caldwell for a touchdown pass two minutes later, and the touchdown was followed by Faulk’s two-point conversion.

After the game the usually softspoken Tomlinson took a shot at the Patriots and Belichick, saying, “They showed no class at all. Absolutely no class. And maybe that comes from the head coach.” He was upset that some Patriots were dancing on the Chargers logo at midfield after taking the lead.

It was a surprising comment from the league MVP and was yet another piece of evidence to show just how different these Chargers were from the regular season version. New England offensive tackles Matt Light and Nick Kaczur controlled San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman for most of the game, and San Diego quarterback Philip Rivers played badly. Aside from one short pass that Tomlinson turned into a 58-yard gain, Rivers finished the day just 14-of-32 for 172 yards, with no touchdowns, an interception and a fumble.

Neither Tomlinson’s uncharacteristic postgame comment nor Schottenheimer’s characteristic playoff loss should overshadow what a great team the Patriots are. They are now just one win away from their fourth Super Bowl in six years, and they will take on the Indianapolis Colts in what promises to be a great game on Sunday, a match-up of two teams that each pulled off playoff upsets last weekend despite surprisingly bad games by their quarterbacks. Maybe those bad games will remind some in the media that the AFC Championship game will be more than simply Tom Brady against Peyton Manning.

Mr. Smith is a writer for FootballOutsiders.com.