The New England Patriots travel to San Diego on Sunday with the Chargers' season clinging to a cliff.

The Chargers, over the past few years, have loved to yap about having the most talented roster in the league. About their top-notch skill players. About a defense which is controlled chaos, forcing turnovers and collecting sacks. About having enough Pro Bowlers to charter a private jet to Hawaii.

The Patriots have often heard this chatter and failed to return fire. Instead, they have concentrated on eliminating the Chargers from the playoffs the past two years.

The two forces meet Sunday night, and the Chargers know they need a win more than convincing others that they really are good.

Coming off Sunday's stunning loss in Miami, the Chargers are working without a net. They sit at 2-3, two games off the pace in the AFC West and a killer stretch staring them in the face.

How critical is Sunday's game? LaDainian Tomlinson has called it a "must-win".

In mid-October for a team some expected to play in early February? Yikes!

That underscores the urgency for the Chargers, who are no longer playing the "it's a long season" card. Or fall back on last year, when they sat at 5-5 before catching fire and winning their last eight in advancing to the AFC championship game -- against the Patriots, who gave them the cold shoulder on a bone-chilling day.

What was supposed to be a Sunday grudge match has become a contest in which the Chargers have to be concerned about their play, not their opponent's.

The coat of confidence in which the Chargers entered the season with is evaporating fast. The cockiness is giving way to an unsettling feeling that the Chargers are getting too close to the third rail, a misstep or two from seeing super dreams be electrocuted.

Sure it's early and you can't win a championship this weekend. But in some ways, the Chargers could come close to losing one with another home loss, which would send a snowball of momentum rumbling in the wrong direction.

But coach Norv Turner -- who is starting to feel some heat -- expects his squad to rebound.

"I think the strength of our football team is the same thing I would have answered a year ago at this same time: the type of character we have, the resiliency of our guys," he said. "I know they're disappointed ... but I don't see anyone point their finger. I don't see anyone looking the other way. I don't try to see anyone trying to get out of this deal."

The real deal is the Chargers need Sunday's game in the worst way.

SERIES HISTORY: 34th regular-season meeting. Patriots lead series, 18-13-2. Not only have the Patriots ousted the Chargers from their last two playoff appearances, but they have defeated them in 11 of the past 13 regular-season games. The Chargers do have one league title and it came against the then-Boston Patriots in 1963, when the Chargers prevailed for the AFL crown.