They did Saturday when revenging an earlier loss to the Colts but eliminating them from the playoffs.

Come Sunday, they get another shot when facing the Steelers at Heinz Field.

Back in November, the Steelers defeated the visiting Chargers, 11-10.

But the Chargers feel good about their chances come Sunday. It seems like they are playing with house money after starting 4-8 and now ending up four quarters shy of their second straight AFC Championship Game.

"Resiliency is a short-term and long-term thing," coach Norv Turner said. "It's been a week-to-week thing. We had a tough loss to Pittsburgh. That was a tough loss. We had some plays that didn't go our way that could have. We had some guys that had bad plays that normally don't. When you have that, it would be easy to, when you're struggling and having the type of season we were having at the time, point fingers or turn on each other."

The Chargers, though, didn't fold when nearly everyone else was ready to pull the rug from under their season.

"This group is so close," Turner said. "It's still a tribute to what the organization has done. From the ownership to the management; you bring in quality people. You bring in people of great character and great work ethic, and through the tough times it pays dividends. Everyone is great when it's going good. I just can't say enough about the type of players, the type of people that we have."

That bodes well for Sunday's challenge. This close-knit squad rallied and didn't give up on each other - even if the playoffs were a long shot.

"The thing that's lost on this a little bit, and I talk about with our guys all the time, everyone gets caught up in, 'Do you have something to play for with the thought of making the playoffs?'" Turner said. "Every time you step on that field, whether you're a coach, whether you're a player, whatever your involvement in this thing is, you're representing yourself. You're representing the organization. You're representing the National Football League.

"It's a privilege to play football in this league. To do anything other than to go out and play at your best is not being fair to yourself or anyone else that's involved."

The result is a five-game winning streak that has the Chargers among the NFL's elite eight.

"That's where we talked about character, and people having pride in their performance," Turner said. "We have a lot of people that take pride in their individual performance ... wanting to represent themselves as a heck of a football player. Those are the things that help you when you're 4-8. It did help us. We were mathematically still in it. I'd be a liar if I told you I thought we were going to make the playoffs because there were too many things that had to happen at 4-8. I was positive that we could go and win. But there were a lot of things that had to happen. Fortunately it happened our way."

And coming their way, again, is Pittsburgh.

"It's just like playing Indianapolis again," Turner said. "We're familiar with them. They're familiar with us. I thought it was an advantage for us to be at home.

"Obviously the crowd and everything involved, that will be an advantage. That's going to be something we'll have to overcome there. But the fact that we've played in the stadium; we've been in the weather. We've handled it once in terms of knowing we can compete and play in that environment. That will help us."