After a Bengals punt, Chandler gave the Chargers good field position with a 7-yard return to the 45-yard line. San Diego then drove 55 yards and cut their deficit to 10–7 when Fouts, desperately trying to avoid a hit from lineman Eddie Edwards, managed to fire a pass to Kellen Winslow, who subsequently raced from the line of scrimmage 33 yards down the right sideline for a score. Nevertheless, the Bengals stormed right back on a drive set up by David Verser’s 40-yard kickoff to the 46-yard line. Faced with 3rd down and 7 inside the red zone later in the drive, Anderson kept the drive going with a 16-yard completion to Isaac Curtis on the Chargers’ 1-yard line, and fullback Pete Johnson scored a touchdown run on the next play, giving them a 17–7 lead. The Bengals completely took over the game from that point on. The Chargers would move the ball inside the Bengals 40-yard line five times during the rest of the game, but failed to score on each possession. San Diego responded with a drive to the Bengals 33-yard line, but came up empty when defensive back Louis Breeden intercepted a deep pass intended for Charlie Joiner at the 5-yard line. The Chargers defense quickly gave the offense another scoring opportunity, forcing a punt from Pat McInally that went just 32 yards to the Bengals 45. However, once again this amounted to nothing as Fouts was intercepted in the end zone by rookie safety Bobby Kemp. On the opening drive of the second half, San Diego drove to the Bengals 38-yard line, only to lose their fourth turnover of the day when Reggie Williams stripped the ball from Chuck Muncie and Cincinnati lineman Ross Browner recovered it. Then Anderson went to work, rushing three times for 31 yards and completing a 19-yard pass to Ross on a drive that moved the ball inside the San Diego 10-yard line. Following three incompletions and a fake field goal touchdown run by Steve Kreider called back by a holding penalty, Breech's 38-yard field goal made the score 20–7. On their next drive, Anderson’s five completions moved the ball deep into Chargers territory, but defensive back Willie Buchanon put an end to it when he recovered a fumble from Ross that had been forced by Woodrow Lowe. The Chargers then drove to the Bengals’ 20-yard line, but on third down, Fouts tripped over the foot of guard Doug Wilkerson and was downed for an 11-yard loss.