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Monday night’s win over Oakland was sort of a good news/bad news situation for the San Diego Chargers. Good news in that Philip Rivers led a fourth-quarter rally to extend San Diego’s winning streak to 12 games in a row against Oakland. But bad news because San Diego was outplayed for most of the game and also because LaDainian Tomlinson was injured again.

L.T. was plagued by injuries all last year and, frankly, looked nothing like a top-flight running back when he did play. Darren Sproles was the much better player on Monday and was easily the best back on the team at the end of last season. But Tomlinson said he was healthy and vowed to debunk the myth that running backs can’t be successful once they hit 30.

Tomlinson rolled his ankle in the first quarter against Oakland and finished with 14 touches for 56 yards and a second-quarter touchdown – which only came after tight end Antonio Gates was tackled at the 1. Sproles, meanwhile, finished with 14 touches for 66 yards and the game-winning TD. In the fourth quarter, Sproles had seven touches to Tomlinson’s three.

So is an official changing of the guard happening before our eyes? L.T. was replaced on third downs the entire game by Sproles, who was far more explosive and productive than his veteran teammate.

Well, Tomlinson may well not play in Sunday’s home opener against the Ravens, a possible AFC title preview. The Chargers are 3-point favorites on WagerWeb.com.

L.T. was limping badly after the game and most assuredly won’t practice much at all this week. Coach Norv Turner said it is premature to speculate on Tomlinson’s availability, but did acknowledge that there is a “backup plan” in place with Michael Bennett having been retained for just such a circumstance.

“We don’t have to play him like we did a year ago when his toe was bothering him,” Turner said of Tomlinson. “That’s why Michael is here.”

Bennett did not have any rushes in Monday’s game.

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