They say it never rains in southern California but the San Diego Chargers reign. They reign over the AFC West division.

The Chargers, one of the NFL’s hottest teams, already have clinched their fourth consecutive division title. They’ve won 10 games in a row and are again serious contenders for the Super Bowl. They represent the final stop on the Redskins’ bitter 2009 itinerary. The Chargers are 12-3, the Redskins 4-11. The game is Sunday at 4:15 p.m. ET at Qualcomm Stadium.

The Chargers began their streak of division championships in 2006, when they were primarily powered by running back LaDanian Tomlinson. Quarterback Philip Rivers has continued to emerge over the ensuing seasons as the linchpin of a potent offense and coach Norv Turner marvels at the team’s ability to maintain its consistency.

“In this day and age I think it says a lot about this organization but each year now in this league your team is different. I know our core guys have stayed constant and those are the guys you build on,” says Turner, completing his third season at the helm.

The Chargers historically played well at home but this year they’ve excelled on the road, where they are 7-1 after pounding the Tennessee Titans on Christmas Day.

“I think over time, when you have the same group of guys here, you develop a mentality, a toughness, and an ability to go on the road and play well,” Rivers says. “The best thing we’ve done is just focus. Our trips have been the same for the most part every trip. The schedule is the same, the routine is the same and the guys approach them as we should, as a business trip. We go and take care of business.”

They also take care of business at the most important juncture of the season – December. Their 18 consecutive victories in the 12th month of the year span 2006 to the present and tie them for best all-time in a calendar month in NFL history with the Miami Dolphins, who won 18 in a row in Novembers stretching from 1970-74.

“It’s been great. It’s been exciting. Our guys have responded and played their best in December,” Turner says.

Turner, 57, is in his third and most successful tour as a head coach. He coached the Redskins from 1994 through 13 games of the 2000 season, winning the NFC East title in 1999 before losing his job a year later. He endured two down campaigns as the Oakland Raiders coach and was offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers before replacing Marty Schottenheimer in San Diego.

His time in Washington ended 13 games into the 2000 season with the team 7-6. A 6-2 start gave way to a slide and Turner coached his last game against the New York Giants in a Dec. 3 contest the Redskins lost 9-7 when aged kicker Eddie Murray missed a 49-yard field goal.

The Redskins had stacked their roster with free agents (Bruce Smith, Deion Sanders, Jeff George) that season after winning the division in the first year of Daniel M. Snyder’s tenure as owner and set the bar high.

The Giants game represented the club’s fourth loss in five games and Snyder fired Turner, who acknowledges he did not fight to keep the job.

“When you have the kind of change we had and the expectation level, people want to make a change to make it right,” he says. Pressure and getting fired, he adds, “are part of the deal.”

In San Diego, he did not step into a rebuilding situation but one with a solid roster that general manager A.J. Smith endlessly restocks.

Though the offense hinges on Rivers, the Chargers give him an array of weapons to use. Tight end Antonio Gates may be the NFL’s best and has amassed 1,000 receiving yards for the second time. Receiver Vincent Jackson is dangerous around the end zone.

Tomlinson still can flash the form that made him a terror earlier in the decade and diminutive Darren Sproles provides a change of pace.

None of them are new to the club and that, Rivers says, is the Chargers’ greatest strength.

“There’s a lot of familiar faces in that locker room, guys that were rookies, one- and two-year players, and now we’re all here in our sixth, seventh or eighth years,” he says. “I think that’s the first thing.”

As are the Chargers. As in first in the AFC West.

BROWNIAN MOVEMENT: Mike Holmgren, the Cleveland Browns’ new president, plans to arrive in town on Monday to start tidying up the place. The key question: Will he throw first-year coach Eric Mangini out with the trash?

Holmgren, in a conference call this week, said he had made no decision yet about retaining Mangini, whose team began showing life in recent weeks with three consecutive victories. Nor would now have been the time.

“Eric and I will meet next week and then we’ll come to some sort of a decision,” Holmgren said. “He’s working like crazy to finish the season on an upbeat note.”

Holmgren said it is not a given that he will replace Mangini because he is “not a fan of the quick hook. I would never do that with quarterbacks when they played for me. I really don’t think one year is enough to prove what you’re trying to get done.”

Holmgren said he would hire a general manager but “I get the final say on everything, which is fun.”

QUOTABLE: “I don’t believe in that. I don’t think this team had that.” – Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger on the alleged and dreaded “Super Bowl hangover.” ... “They had everything to fight for and we had nothing. We closed out their stadium with a big win for us.” – Carolina Panthers FB Brad Hoover, after the 41-9 stunner that eliminated the New York Giants from playoff contention. ... “They came out and beat us. It’s that simple.” – Giants LB Michael Boley. ... “The maturity and no egos. This team is tighter than ’05.” – Cincinnati Bengals G Bobbie Williams, comparing this version of the team to the last playoff qualifier four years ago. The Bengals are AFC North champions. ... “It’s like a broken record. We say it at the beginning of every year, try and get things done to improve our chances of making the playoffs and our goal is to be in the position that we’re in right now.” – Houston Texans WR Andre Johnson. The 8-7 Texans have never made the playoffs and must beat the New England Patriots while having two of three other teams (Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Denver Broncos) lose to get in as a wild card. ... “You can’t live in the past. It’s been documented how this season has gone – not the way we envisioned it.” – Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith, whose team started 3-1 and is now 6-9.

EXTRA POINTS: Broncos WR Brandon Marshall has 101 receptions, giving him three consecutive seasons in triple digits. Three others have done that (Wes Welker, Herman Moore, Jerry Rice) while Marvin Harrison holds the record of four. ... The Arizona Cardinals did not lose consecutive games at all this season, a first since 1975. The Cardinals were 5-0 following defeats. ... Browns RB James Harrison set a club record with his 39 rushing attempts against the Oakland Raiders. He ran for 148 yards and a touchdown in the 23-9 victory, Cleveland’s third straight. The 39 rushes are the most by any player in the NFL this season. ... Giants WR Steve Smith has 97 receptions. No Giants player has ever broken 100. ... San Francisco RB Frank Gore has gone over 1,000 yards for the fourth consecutive season, which no other 49ers player has ever done. ... The Panthers’ late-season surge seems to have saved the jobs of general manager Marty Hurney and coach John Fox but Fox is going into the last year of his deal. Will he want to return without an extension? ... For the first time in their considerable history, the Steelers have a 4,000-yard passer (Roethlisberger), a 1,000-yard rusher (Rashard Mendenhall) and two 1,000-yard receivers (Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes). ... The Redskins are tied for 29th in turnover differential at -12. Their six fumble recoveries tie them for last in the league and the total of 16 takeaways is also the NFL’s worst. Green Bay leads the NFL in differential at +22. ... Clinton Portis will almost certainly conclude the season as the Redskins’ rushing leader with 494 yards and he hasn’t played since Nov. 8. That will mark the lowest team-leading rushing figure since 1982, when John Riggins led the team with 553 yards in a strike-shortened season of nine games. The previous low would be Larry Brown’s 430 yards in 1974. ... Former Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula turns 80 on Monday.

Larry Weisman covered professional football for USA TODAY for 25 years and now joins the Redskins Broadcast Network and Redskins.com to bring his unique viewpoint and experience to Redskins fans. Go to Redskins.com for the Redskins Blitz column and NFL Blitz on Friday. Larry also appears on The Jim Zorn Show on WRC-TV on Saturday night, on Redskins Nation, airing twice nightly on Comcast SportsNet, and on ESPN 980 AM radio, all in the Washington, D.C. area. Read his blog at redskinsrule.com and follow him on Twitter.com/LarryWeisman.