San Diego began on the front foot, seeing a short Benirschke field goal blocked before Pat Curran opened the scoring when he grabbed a deflected Fouts pass in the end zone. Oakland soon tied the scores, but a pair of Hank Bauer runs put the Chargers up 20-7 early in the 4th quarter (Benirschke missed the extra point after the first of these). Ken Stabler had been kept in check up to this point, throwing three interceptions, including two snagged by Glen Edwards on consecutive 3rd quarter attempts. However, he threw his second touchdown of the game with 8:26 to play, then led his team to a 2nd and 10 at the San Diego 14 with 10 seconds to play.
