Niners blow 21-point lead, lose to Chargers in overtime

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Colin Kaepernick jumped into the open arms of his leaping coach and all seemed right with the San Francisco 49ers for a few hours Saturday night.

Then, in a matter of minutes, a matter of three clutch completions by Philip Rivers, the good feelings were gone.

Just when San Francisco seemed poised for a rare celebratory moment between embattled fourth-year coach Jim Harbaugh and his highly criticized quarterback, Rivers changed everything and sent the 49ers to a fourth straight defeat.

After Rivers led a 21-point rally in the second half, Nick Novak kicked a 40-yard field goal nearly 5 minutes into overtime to give the Chargers a 38-35 victory over the 49ers on Saturday night.

Rivers completed his fourth touchdown pass of the day with a tying 11-yard TD pass to Malcom Floyd with 29 seconds left in regulation after completing a pair of fourth-and-longs as the Chargers (9-6) forced overtime.

Phil Dawson’s 60-yard field goal attempt for San Francisco as regulation ended fell way short. Quinton Patton then fumbled in overtime to set up San Diego’s winning drive.

A lot went right for San Francisco when it really didn’t matter. Six days after the Niners’ season essentially ended with playoff elimination at Seattle, Kaepernick, Frank Gore and the 49ers finally got it together in all phases – for most of the night, that is.

The 49ers blew just their second game when leading by 21 or more at halftime and lost their fourth straight game. They lost 42-41 to Minnesota on Oct. 24, 1965, after leading 35-14 at halftime.

Kaepernick ran 90 yards for a touchdown and Gore had a 52-yard touchdown run as the Niners (7-8) grabbed early momentum.

“Right now there’s not much to say,” Harbaugh said. “That’s a tough one.”

Rivers threw touchdown passes of 21 and 1 yard to Antonio Gates and another to Eddie Royal, but also was hurt by three interceptions. On one of those, Antoine Bethea ran an interception back 49 yards for his first career touchdown, and a defense minus recently released starting lineman Ray McDonald never let Rivers find a rhythm.

The 31-year-old Gore finished with 158 yards and he needs 38 yards in the final game next weekend against Arizona for a fourth consecutive 1,000-yard season and eighth in his 10 NFL seasons. His scoring run was his longest since a 64-yarder on Nov. 1, 2009, at Indianapolis. It also was the longest TD run allowed by San Diego since 2010 before Kaepernick topped it.