Oh, yeah, now take the Chargers

Two weeks ago, NBC dumped out on the San Diego-Tampa Bay game because it felt the New York Giants-Carolina game would mean more (link to story here).

And we're not taking away from how the Giants-Panthers turned out.

But Sunday night, NBC suddenly decided the Chargers were a decent choice.

The net said that the Week 17 Denver-San Diego game from Qualcomm Stadium, which will now miraculously determine the AFC West title, is a flex-schedule choice for the Dec. 28 5:15 p.m. window. It had been a 1 p.m. kickoff for CBS before the decision.

The need for this game came about after the Chargers beat the Bucs, and the Broncos lost to Buffalo.

"Next week these two teams will go at it and play for the division title," said NBC's Cris Collinsworth, "and probably the happiest guy on the planet is Ed Hochuli because his call will not decide this division."

==More on the story (linked here)