SAN DIEGO -- If the whispers didn't make you wonder, the denials sure did.

Call it Footgate.

Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers hobbled into one of Qualcomm Stadium's concrete tunnels well ahead of halftime during Sunday's 27-20 victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Rivers, favoring a clearly aching right foot, says he didn't get an X-ray or an injection.

Maybe he just needed a pedicure or luffa.

Whatever the reason for the early exit, Rivers returned to play enough of the second half to erase the concerns of two straight shaky starts with a coolly efficient 19-for-24 two-touchdown performance.

Now, about that foot.

Rivers, still gimping the hallways but now doing so in street clothes and loafers, wasn't eager to offer even a layman's diagnosis of the injury he suffered while being sacked in the first quarter by Chike Okeafor. The most he would say is it was "sore."

There were whispers it was "sprained."

Sore, sprained or strained, there's no doubt Rivers will trot onto the field when the Chargers open the AFC playoffs in two weeks. But, considering he had the mobility of a pregnant yak, it was Russian roulette risky to send Rivers out for the second half. The Chargers, remember, already had secured a first-round bye.

"Well, what happens in many circumstances is you say let him go and see how he does, and then you follow that judgment with a subsequent decision or judgment and you go from there," said Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer in precision coachspeak while handling the topic as if it were a radioactive cactus.

Eventually, Rivers gave way to backup Billy Volek late in the third quarter with the Chargers ahead 27-10.

So was Rivers healthy enough to play or not?

This from Schottenheimer: "We made the decision that it didn't serve our interest to have him to continue to play, and I said we should pull him out of the game and (team medical personnel) concurred."

It was an amazing performance by Rivers, who missed just three of 20 first-half passes, finished with a 117.2 rating and seemed back to his accurate early-season self --- injury and all.

Even Rivers admitted, with the playoffs looming, he needed that kind of performance.

"I felt like I needed to get back kind of on track a little bit," he said.

Eric Parker, playing for the first time in two weeks, caught five of Rivers passes for 62 yards and offered an altogether different theory on Footgate.

"He's just playing with you guys," Parker said about Rivers' injury. "He's giving you guys the old okey-doke. He'll be all right."

Volek, the veteran backup acquired for moments just like those on Sunday, threw just two passes in mop-up duty. He is not the guy you lean on to get you to the Super Bowl. No, that guy is Rivers. He proved it with his gritty, if foolhardy, effort against the Cardinals.

"He's a warrior," Volek said. "He found a way to stay on the field. He's a natural born leader, and he gave us a lot of momentum heading into the playoffs."

One last question for Rivers. About the foot. Is he in a lot of pain?

"No. I mean it's sore," he said.

Okey-doke.

Contact sports editor Loren Nelson at (760) 745-3332 or lnelson@nctimes.com.